Although he had been infected with the corona virus and was seriously ill with Covid-19, on November 22, 2022 he spat in the face of a roommate in a residential building in Vienna-Floridsdorf during a neighborhood dispute.
“I don’t know which fuses have to blow to do something like this,” said judge Philipp Schnabel. And turning directly to the 33-year-old, he added: “You are lucky that the pandemic has developed in such a way that the penalty for general preventive reasons does not have to be as high as it would have been two years ago.” The previously blameless and unemployed got off conditionally with three months. In addition, he has to pay financial compensation of 100 euros to the neighbor for whom the spitting attack did not result in an infection with SARS-CoV-2. Defense attorney Wolfgang Polster gratefully accepted the verdict.
years of dispute
For years there have been quarrels between the defendant, who lives on the ground floor, and some neighbors because they keep leaving the door to his staircase open. On purpose and to provoke him, as the 33-year-old claimed in court: “Unfortunately, they are responsible for it moving into my apartment. I always get sick. That’s no longer possible. I can’t anymore. I’m moving! The smarter give in.” At the time, he felt particularly crocheted by an older neighbor because he was not in good spirits as a result of a corona infection: “I felt dirty. I switched to the emergency generator.” Afterwards he regrets having spat in the man’s face: “I see that it was nonsense.”
Defendant suffers from Long Covid
The 33-year-old, who appeared at the trial with an FFP2 mask and did not take it off throughout the trial, says he suffers from Long Covid. He has two infections behind him and is on sick leave: “Look at me, I’m a wreck, I’m getting worse and worse.” As his legal representative explained, his client now fears another infection with the corona virus or another pathogen and therefore wears a mask. A few seconds after the verdict was announced, the 33-year-old gasped. “Please open the windows, I can’t breathe anymore!” he shouted before a fit of coughing overtook him. With the help of his defense attorney, he finally got out of the courtroom and then quickly out into the open.
