“Leon case” in Tyrol – judge decides on detention on Thursday

It is a turning point that has everything: the father (38) of six-year-old Leon, who drowned in the Kitzbüheler Ache in August 2022, was – as reported – arrested on Monday morning. According to the Tyrolean criminal investigation department and the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office, there are now doubts about the previous official version.

What exactly happened last year? According to the previous official version, during a joint walk on August 28 last year, the father was suddenly attacked by a stranger and knocked unconscious with a bottle. Leon therefore probably crawled out of the pram on his own and fell into the water. A short time later he was found dead on the sandbank of the nearby Kitzbüheler Ache.

“We currently assume that there is an urgent suspicion”
However, now the police and the prosecutor’s office have doubts about this version. “In the course of the investigation, more and more evidence has emerged that indicates that it did not happen as the father claims. Specifically: We have investigation results that indicate that the robbery was faked and that the father himself is responsible for the death of his son. We are currently assuming this urgent suspicion,” says Hansjörg Mayr, spokesman for the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office, when asked by “Krone”. That is why the now 38-year-old was arrested on Monday morning and interrogated on Tuesday.

“It’s All Baseless”
He has again denied the suspicion and is sticking to his previous account. This is also confirmed by Hubert Stanglechner, one of his lawyers, who once again emphasizes that the available evidence is not tenable – reported the “Krone”. “For example, my client is accused of carrying the bottle with which he was hit in his buggy and throwing his mobile phone in the garbage himself at the crime scene. The pedometer of the mobile phone stopped at the right time and the forensic medicine had doubts about the injury pattern, but all this is unfounded.”

‘Maybe a lot can change again’
A request for detention has already been submitted by the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office and a decision will be taken on it tomorrow, Thursday at 09:00. “The investigation is not over yet. If more evidence emerges, many things could change again. But at the moment there is a suspicion, albeit an urgent one,” Mayr summarizes briefly, who, on the other hand, does not want to comment on the evidence.

The 38-year-old’s lawyer refers to the new jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. “Even in the case of serious charges such as murder, pre-trial detention should no longer be mandatory, but there should be very specific reasons for detention and justification. It should be clarified whether this ruling of the Constitutional Court is not being completely ignored here” says Stanglechner.

Risk of escape, committing crimes and collusion
According to the public prosecutor’s office, there is not only a risk of flight, but also a risk of committing a crime. “It is incomprehensible that there is a risk here that my client would kill someone in the future. That is alleged, but not justified,” explains the defense lawyer. In addition, it is alleged that there is also a risk of blackout – that is, that Leon’s father would influence witnesses. “That, too, must be firmly rejected. The trial has been going on for quite some time, but it is still not clear which witnesses could be affected here. Further, my client will not contact a potential witness. So this danger does not exist,” says Stanglechner.