Trial: Neighbour died of Corona: Austrian woman convicted

The defendant had tested positive for Covid-19. (Photo: Archive) Photo

© Archive) Photo: Daniel Karmann/dpa

During the pandemic, millions of people worldwide died as a result of the coronavirus. Can an individual be held liable for infecting another person?

An Austrian court has held a woman responsible for the corona death of her neighbor. The regional court in Klagenfurt considered it proven that the defendant, now 54 years old, had infected the man suffering from cancer in December 2021. She was sentenced to a suspended sentence of four months for grossly negligent homicide.

In addition, the woman must pay a fine of 200 daily rates of four euros each, with a total value of 800 euros. The verdict is not yet final.

The neighbor died of pneumonia as a result of a corona infection. An expert determined through genetic analysis that the deceased’s virus and the woman’s virus were “almost 100 percent” identical. Such a high degree of coverage is very rare because corona viruses change rapidly, the expert explained.

No quarantine despite a positive test

“I feel sorry for you personally – I think that something like this has probably happened hundreds of times,” the judge told the defendant in her verdict. “But you are unlucky that an expert has determined with almost absolute certainty that it was an infection that came from you.” That is enough for a guilty verdict, the judge explained.

In July 2023, the woman had already been sentenced to a suspended sentence of three months for intentionally endangering people through communicable diseases. Despite testing positive for corona in December 2021, she had disregarded her mandatory quarantine, left her apartment and talked to people without a mask. The neighbor’s death was now being tried in a separate trial.

According to his family, the neighbor had met the woman suffering from corona in the hallway. She said she was too sick to even get up at the time. From her point of view, she did not have corona, but bronchitis, “like I have every year in winter,” she said in court.

dpa