2023-09-29 10:12:55
The trial of a 27-year-old woman who inflicted a cut on her partner’s left knee with a bread knife in Vienna-Josefstadt on May 1, 2023 and then plunged a butcher knife into her chest ended with a lenient verdict at the regional court on Friday . The previously innocent woman got away with 18 months in prison, although her sentence was suspended in its entirety with a probationary period.
The defendant was found guilty of grievous bodily harm. She also has to pay her former partner financial compensation of 2,400 euros. The woman accepted the verdict following consulting with defense attorney Anita Schattner; the public prosecutor initially made no statement. The judgment is not final.
“I was never good enough,” the 27-year-old described her relationship with the woman, who was four years her junior, to a jury. “She never admitted that she liked blonde women, that she found them better.” There were repeated arguments and scenes of jealousy, which culminated in the violent act at issue at the beginning of May.
The charge was not attempted murder, although the 27-year-old attacked her partner with two knives. The public prosecutor explained that the stab in the chest was carried out “with little force” so that the blade penetrated the 23-year-old’s body “at a shallow depth”, which is why he accused the previously innocent woman of intentionally causing serious bodily harm. When discussing his report, forensic pathologist Nikolaus Klupp ruled out “an intentional, violent stabbing.” The branch channel reached a length of three centimeters, said the expert.
The 27-year-old was not taken into custody in this matter, although the prosecution also alleged previous dangerous threats with a knife and other bodily harm – the defendant had once hit her partner on the head with high heels and another time with a metal bottle, which resulted in lacerations in both cases. No psychiatric report was obtained in advance on the dangers of the woman, who, according to defense attorney Schattner, was “wildly jealous.”
The 27-year-old explained in her interview with the accused: “I was delirious.” She had “a different view of reality at the time”: “I used to have that more often.” While her now ex-partner was treated in hospital following the knife attack, she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Since then, she has been in therapy and taking medication, the defendant revealed.
After a two-week hospital stay, the 27-year-old was diagnosed with an “unstable personality disorder”. Depression is said to have recently caused her problems.
The two women met while playing rugby in 2021. A one-night stand developed into a love affair and in October 2021 they moved into a shared apartment together. That didn’t go well, as the 23-year-old – also a student – explained to the court: “We were often annoyed by each other.” The reason for this was the 27-year-old’s jealousy – which from the witness’s point of view was unfounded. She constantly accused her of having an affair with another woman, but she was “never into” her. Her girlfriend at the time always assumed she was cheating whenever she communicated with other women.
The defendant, on the other hand, insisted that her now ex-partner had “never told her the truth. She always lied to me.” She knows that the 27-year-old “thinks blondes are better people.” That’s why she even dyed her hair blonde. But that didn’t achieve anything. “She said it was inauthentic,” reported the 27-year-old. “Then I escalated, took the knives and shouted that she should tell the truth.” She used one knife to cut her partner’s leg: “I wanted to scare her.” About the stab in the chest, the defendant said: “I just wanted to scare her, I just drove out. But she didn’t go back. So I just cut her.”
When the presiding judge asked whether the relationship was now “over,” the 27-year-old answered hesitantly “yes” following a long pause. However, she added, her ex-girlfriend follows her on Instagram.
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