A 54 year old is on Friday Graz Regional Criminal Court from the accusation of murder acquitted been. According to the public prosecutor’s office, he allegedly killed a man 19 years ago after an argument over money Stab in the heart have killed. He left Austria after the incident and was not arrested until 2023.
Two witnesses offered different versions of what happened and were at times considered suspects themselves. “We are in a trial in which nothing is clear,” the defense attorney began her remarks. The public prosecutor had previously described the facts from her perspective. She described how the Georgian was accused by a fellow countryman of stealing money from him in a betting cafe. He then summoned the now 54-year-old to an apartment where he and two other men waited for “Dito,” his nickname.
An argument broke out between the three men and the victim later cut the accused twice with a knife. According to the prosecutor, the suspect left the apartment. The two men met again in the courtyard and the defendant is said to have delivered “a powerful stab to the heart” of his opponent. According to a witness, the most seriously injured man is said to have said, “Dito stabbed me,” then he died.
“The prosecution is on shaky ground,” the defense attorney was convinced. Your client was threatened by two men in the apartment and tried to escape. “Why would he attempt to kill someone on the street if he already had the knife in his apartment?” The fact is that a short time later Dead man lying on the street and a bloody knifewhich according to the expert would have matched the wound, was found in the apartment. The lawyer argued that the 54-year-old did not go back to the apartment.
“Never had a knife in my hand”
The defendant did not feel guilty and stated that the victim was drunk and smoking when he left the scene. He had previously been injured with a knife. “Where did he get the knife?” asked Judge Angelika Hacker. “How should I know?” replied the defendant. “Because you were in the apartment,” the chairwoman replied. However, the accused did not provide any information about this. “I have never had a knife in my hand,” he emphasized.
Of the two alleged witnesses, the first told different versions of the crime. In 2005, he said he saw the victim kneeling on the ground and holding her wound. He later described seeing the alleged perpetrator standing nearby. And this time his statement was: “He stabbed him in front of me.”
“You didn’t say last year that he stabbed you,” the judge said. “Why didn’t you tell the right story from the beginning?” asked the defense attorney. “I was afraid of him,” said the witness in reference to the defendant. The interviewee also emphasized several times that he had been suffering from “post-traumatic stress disorder” since then, which would also affect his memory.
The jury found the defendant guilty not guilty. The verdict is not legally binding.
