The woman had to answer on Wednesday for grossly negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm and pleaded guilty in full. After a company party, she had 1.7 per mille of alcohol in her blood and still got behind the wheel.
The 31-year-old had only recently started working at the company. Because the company had landed a large order, there was already a celebration on the afternoon of April 26th. The woman drank two to three quarters of wine but “didn’t eat anything all day.” She felt fit to drive and got into her car around 3 p.m. The plan was actually for her to take the nearby U1 home, but something happened at the company that she didn’t want to talk about at the trial, “and I just wanted to get away.”
1.7 per mille alcohol in the blood
The 31-year-old could no longer remember the trip. According to eyewitnesses, she was traveling at 70 kilometers per hour on Julius-Ficker-Straße when she approached a line of cars that was stopped at a red light. With full force she crashed into the car of the father of the family, who was traveling with his partner. As a result, there was a pile-up in which four cars were ultimately involved.
The 40-year-old father got out and was conscious, but he died a short time later from a traumatic brain injury. His partner suffered bruises to his ilium and ribs as well as a strain. Two other occupants of the other vehicles also had to go to the hospital with bruises and strains.
“I deserve a punishment”
“To this day it is incomprehensible to me what happened,” said the accused, sometimes in tears. She wouldn’t have gotten into the car if she felt like she had 1.7 per mille of alcohol in her blood. “Driving while heavily intoxicated is not a trivial offense,” warned the public prosecutor. “Especially in broad daylight when there is still a lot of traffic,” said the prosecutor.
“I deserve a punishment. My behavior deserves to be punished,” said the previously blameless woman. Judge Julia Matiasch considered a sentence of ten months in partial prison to be appropriate for the guilt and crime. The woman has to serve two months in prison. “It is necessary that part of the sentence be imposed unconditionally, especially when the level of intoxication was so high,” said the judge. The judgment is already legally binding. The relatives of the deceased – the family unit was very close – were awarded a total of more than 124,000 euros in grief compensation and funeral costs.
