17-year-old confesses to fatal attack on fellow inmate in Klagenfurt prison
A 17-year-old has confessed to strangling and killing a 19-year-old fellow inmate with a disposable razor at Klagenfurt prison. Indications of psychological irregularities had been noted beforehand.
Confession in Klagenfurt: 17-year-old killed fellow inmate in cell
A 17-year-old has confessed to deliberately killing a 19-year-old fellow inmate at Klagenfurt prison (JA) on the night leading into Tuesday. This was announced by Christian Pirker, spokesman for the Klagenfurt state prosecutor's office, on Wednesday. According to Google News AT — Crime (de), the young person had already shown signs of psychological irregularities before the deed.
The 17-year-old was transferred on 7 August to a two-person prison cell at JA Klagenfurt. His fellow inmate, two years his senior, was serving a prison sentence for property offences. According to the account given by the suspected murderer, the 19-year-old had threatened him several times beforehand. On the night leading into Tuesday, he allegedly strangled the older inmate until he lost consciousness. Subsequently, he inflicted fatal lacerations to his neck with a disposable razor, Pirker recounted, describing the youth's account of responsibility.
The accused also claimed that in the weeks before, there had been repeated "difficulties" between the two inmates on the youth wing of JA. However, the institution has no reports of such incidents. Records of acts of violence or bodily injury between the two are not documented, Pirker said.
Josef Gramm, head of Klagenfurt prison, pointed out that the institution responds immediately to known conflicts between prisoners. "As soon as we recognise that one inmate has problems with another, we respond immediately," said Gramm. "We have a duty of care. We must ensure that they become healthy, stay healthy and are able to go home healthy." The institution had not received any reports of tensions between the two cellmates.
An investigation by APA established that after his arrest, the 17-year-old showed signs of a psychological illness. He had been taken into custody for dangerous threats in a family context — he reportedly threatened relatives with death — as well as attempted arson. At a multi-unit residential building in Klagenfurt, he allegedly attempted to set a fire using diesel fuel.
The youth's relatives had explicitly linked the threats directed against them to his psychological state and had drawn the authorities' attention to this. Nevertheless, the 17-year-old was placed in normal detention at JA Klagenfurt — not in a medical wing, a forensic-therapeutic centre, or a psychiatric facility.
State prosecutor spokesman Pirker explained that a psychiatric assessment had been commissioned following his remand in custody to determine any possible lack of criminal responsibility on the youth's part. The combination alone of dangerous threats and attempted arson had suggested this step. It was to be examined whether the 17-year-old had committed the offences attributed to him under the influence of a serious mental disorder.
"The assessment has not yet been received," said Pirker. Thus it remains unclear for now whether the youth was criminally unaccountable at the time of the earlier offences — and therefore whether he had any criminal responsibility. (APA)
Source: Google News AT — Crime (de)