The lawyer of the accused, Philip Springer, confirmed the relevant report on Friday to APA from the online portal Oe24.at. According to the report, the person from Afghanistan can be classified as dangerous. A referral to a forensic treatment center is expected according to Section 21/1 of the Criminal Code (StGB), Springer said. “My client can expect to spend the next few decades in a closed facility,” the attorney said.
Bloodbath in establishment on Engerthstrasse
Springer pointed to mental illness from the start. The Vienna public prosecutor’s office confirmed this on March 21. Nina Buszek, a spokeswoman for the authority, said at the time that there was “psychosis of the suspect” and that the question would be clarified by an expert report. In this regard, psychiatrist Peter Hoffman’s assessment was a little surprising.
The 27-year-old asylum seeker allegedly stabbed three sex workers at an Asian studio in Vienna-Brigitte on February 23. He is said to have caused bloodshed in the establishment on Engerthstrasse. The fourth woman saved herself by locking herself in a room. The suspect was arrested after a neighbor called the police after he found blood on a bramble in front of AsiaStudio.
According to the expert, the act was a “shootout”.
According to the psychiatric report, the suspect said, among other things, that while on the run in Serbia, he met a witch who wanted to seduce him into abandoning his religion. He said he knows sex workers working with witches.
“Schizophrenic psychosis determined facts and actions,” attests expert Hoffman. He describes the crime itself as “shooting, that is (…) a crime that kills many people in a very short period of time”.
More killings are feared
Hoffman also concludes that “a mental illness must be taken in the dimension of a lasting and serious mental disorder that determines crime and actions.” The 27-year-old poses a “great risk with a high probability of committing criminal acts with serious consequences such as the one in question again in the near future.”
“Severe and intentional grievous bodily harm and murder are expected,” Hofmann said. Therefore, the requirements for placement in a forensic treatment center pursuant to Section 21 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code are met.
