A 26-year-old man was sentenced to two and a half years of unconditional imprisonment at the Vienna Regional Court on Thursday afternoon for committing a crime while fully intoxicated (Section 287 of the Criminal Code). Due to a severe personality disorder that, according to a psychiatric report, makes him dangerous, he was also transferred to a forensic therapeutic center. He had attacked a 44-year-old acquaintance who was sleeping with a sword.
The defendant explained to the jury (chairperson: Andrea Philipp-Stürzer) what happened on the night of July 23, 2024, in his apartment in Vienna-Favoriten. After watching TV and drinking a beer with the defendant, with whom he had had irregular sexual contact for several years, he went to bed. At 3:00 AM, he was awakened by a noise: “He was standing by my bed with the sword. I told him to put it back on the wall.” The weapon was a decorative item the 44-year-old had bought at a medieval festival and hung on his living room wall. The defendant then “immediately started stabbing quickly and often,” as the witness described. The victim had been “dazed from sleep” and had “not expected it at all.”
“I realized the stab went through”
“You are the devil! I have killed many devils. I am the Mahdi,” shouted the 26-year-old, who came from Iran, during the attack. According to traditional Islamic belief, the Mahdi is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who is believed to appear in the end times to eliminate injustice in the world. When the victim called for help, he was strangled, he reported. Then, his acquaintance continued stabbing.
The blade pierced the victim’s chest, damaging the lung, and caused stab wounds to the upper abdomen and under the left armpit. “I realized one of the stabs went through. I heard the air escaping,” the 44-year-old recalled.
Finally, the victim managed to flee the apartment and contacted the police emergency number from the stairwell. He collapsed shortly afterward, the 44-year-old told the court. Soon after, the police special unit (WEGA) arrived, and officers arrested the 26-year-old, who was wiping the bloodied sword blade in the bathroom. Rapid emergency medical help saved the victim’s life, and he was brought to the hospital in critical condition. After two emergency surgeries, the 44-year-old was able to leave the hospital in early August. He has since returned to work but has not sought psychological help. When asked whether he would claim compensation from the defendant, the man replied dryly: “Where there’s nothing to get, even the emperor has lost his rights.” The witness only lost his composure briefly when the defendant asked if he could hug him. “Please, no,” the 44-year-old firmly rejected.
Expert identified “drug-induced psychosis”
The psychiatric expert Siegfried Schranz attributed the sword attack to severe cannabis intoxication. The defendant was in a “drug-induced psychosis,” according to Schranz. However, he was deemed to have been legally accountable at the time of the offense. “If the defendant had not been in such a state, we would be dealing with attempted murder before a jury,” emphasized the prosecutor.
The 26-year-old fully confessed and accepted the verdict, which is already final. “I am guilty. I was totally out of it. I am not the Mahdi; I am a psychopath,” he said. He described himself as “a sick person, please forgive me.” He lives without family in Austria, has few connections, “wrong friends,” and had therefore started abusing cannabis and other substances. Any issues the Iranian may have had with his sexual orientation were not further discussed in the trial. In early December, the man was transferred from the Josefstadt prison to the Hietzing clinic after he claimed to have met Mozart and Michael Schumacher in prison. Doctors suspect possible paranoid schizophrenia in the 26-year-old.
