In April, his neighbor Markus Hofstätter from Bregenz attacked with a machete, seriously wounding him. With the “crown”, Hofstätter now speaks of inner and outer scars.
“I wish you all the best for the future and I hope you don’t have to spend too long in jail. Because that’s a bad place to get your life back under control.” Forgiving and at the same time extraordinary words from a victim to his tormentor. These are the words of Markus Hofstätter from Bregenz, who gave goosebumps in the jury trial in Feldkirch last Tuesday.
How can you be so nice to someone who almost killed you with a machete three months ago? I meet Hofstätter in the “Wunderbar” in the center of Bregenz. “It’s a sunny day. Good for the soul,” says the 46-year-old, pulling his baseball cap a little lower over his forehead.
“I’m alive – that’s the main thing”
He smiles and acts casually. But as his counterpart, I think I feel a certain insecurity in him. Uncertainty about his disfigured face and how outsiders would react to it. Which for me also explains the thing with the cap being pulled down. But I thought wrong, because before me stands no broken man struggling with his destiny, but one who defies it and looks ahead. He says, “Now I’ll stop. I’m alive. That’s the main thing.”
But how did the deep scar on his face come about? It is April 19, 2022: Victim and perpetrator live in the same house, in the South Tyrolean settlement of Bregenz. Both know each other only fleetingly, they greet each other. The perpetrator, a 38-year-old alcoholic, turned the music on full blast in the apartment building that day. If it’s still not quiet by 10 p.m., Hofstätter, who lives on the floor below, has had enough. He introduces himself. “I just wanted to ask him to turn the music down to the room volume.”
Attack out of nowhere
But he doesn’t even get around to that because the 38-year-old rioter suddenly punches him in the face and then pulls a machete over his head. The result of the cowardly knife attack: a multiple fractured cheekbone, severed nerve cords and a gaping four-inch flesh wound on the left side of the face. “I think at that moment my whole body went into emergency power because I didn’t even feel any pain. It was just blood everywhere. Then I thought, let’s go outside!”, the victim recalls. Neighbors finally alert rescue and police.
While being taken to the hospital, the Cobra storms the perpetrator’s apartment and arrests him. The 38-year-old was eventually sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Three months have passed since the brutal attack. In between there are operations, unspeakable pain, psychotherapy and the question why. “I’ve thought about it, read a lot of philosophical books. In the end, there’s nothing you can do but accept fate as it is. And so I can’t argue with my scar when I look in the mirror.”
say yes to life
Not even with the fact that his face will appear partially asymmetrical because of the severed nerve cords. With this statement, Hofstätter gives a clear yes to life, even if he is still plagued by nightmares – of the neighbor with the machete in his hand. “That’s not always easy. But I’m working on my resilience.” Perhaps that’s why he could accept the perpetrator’s apology for what he did to him in court: “I have no hatred or resentment towards him. I just forgave him.’ cheers.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
