42-year-old convicted – amok trial in Linz: admitted to an institution

The Iraqi has been standing before a jury in Linz since last week. The Public Prosecution Service has requested admission to a forensic therapeutic center. Kastner presented her report on Thursday. “We are still far from any significant treatment success,” she sees no alternative to a closed psychiatric institution.

Woman and children drowned in the sea
The story of the person involved – because he is not of sound mind, is not mentioned as a suspect – is largely unclear, but will probably have been very dramatic. As a Yazidi, he is said to have fled with his family from Iraq via Turkey to Austria. According to him, the woman and children – how many are unclear – drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. He was treated several times in Austria because he was depressed.

Admitted to psychiatric hospital
He has two children with a new partner, but he has lost contact – probably also because he repeatedly attracted attention for his aggressiveness and drinking. He also lost his status as a subsidiary protection beneficiary. He was once forced to go to a psychiatric hospital after rioting at the Linz train station and jumping into the fountain. Even in a new relationship – with the victim of the crime for which he is on trial – he was aggressive and extremely jealous. According to Kastner, his jealousy had become a “mania,” “and that is a disease.”

No orderly conversation possible
Examining the person concerned was “only possible to a limited extent because he was unable to conduct an orderly conversation.” He gave completely confusing information. Based on the ‘word salad’ he uttered and his auditory hallucinations, she diagnosed him with schizophrenia. There is also a dissociative disorder – that is, the “complete loss of memory of what happened before.” He no longer knows if he has children, although he had mourned the deaths of his children in the Mediterranean for years. According to Kastner, this can be caused by tragic experiences. The treatment did not work for a long time and today – despite eight months of treatment – he is still abnormal.

Further crimes possible
Kastner assumes that the disease was already ‘in full swing’ at the time of the crime. “It is also conceivable that some of the acts were committed on the orders of hallucinated people.” In terms of prognosis, it is expected that he could continue to commit serious crimes in the future, because: takes orders from the voices in his head, “then he does it.” She doubts whether he will ever be free of complaints.

Stepdaughter intervened
The Iraqi is said to have seriously injured and strangled his wife with a knife early in the morning of January 9, 2023. His eleven-year-old stepdaughter intervened and may have saved her mother’s life. He then allegedly threatened to kill a colleague of his wife. Shortly before noon – there was already a major search for him – he drove his car straight towards a checkpoint, according to the Public Prosecution Service. A policewoman and her colleague were seriously injured.

Only known on a few points
He then allegedly grabbed the unconscious officer’s assault rifle and aimed it at the policewoman and some road users until he managed to carjack a car. After a few hundred meters he caused an accident and tried to hit a car again, but was eventually overpowered by the police. The person concerned only confessed to a few points. He repeatedly mentioned gaps in his memory or that he was mentally ill.