Fraud trial in Leoben: married couple accused of defrauding woman over 90 of €150,000
The fraud trial against an Upper Styrian married couple was continued at the Leoben regional court. The defendants deny all allegations.
Witnesses paint contradictory picture in Leoben fraud proceedings
The Leoben regional court on Thursday heard a serious fraud case again. According to Kleine Zeitung, a married couple from Upper Styria is accused of defrauding a now deceased neighbour over 90 years old of more than €150,000. The couple denies all allegations. The focus of the hearing was lengthy questioning of neighbours, tradesmen, confidants and relatives of the deceased woman.
The 53-year-old defendant is accused of arranging numerous transfers and cash withdrawals from the older woman's accounts between January 2022 and April 2024 — sometimes within minutes on the same day. The total amount involved comes to €120,000. Additionally, the defendant is said to have attempted to transfer back much of the €150,000 purchase price that the woman had received at the end of 2021 from the sale of her flat to her neighbours.
The central question of the hearing day was whether renovation work in the older woman's flat and on her terrace was carried out at her own request or under pressure from the defendant. Witness testimony proved contradictory on this point. "She always seemed very oriented to me. She knew exactly what she wanted," said a tradesman called as a witness. Another tradesman confirmed that all work had been undertaken at the elderly woman's initiative. However, a close confidant of the deceased gave a different account: "She didn't want all of this on this scale. The defendant had a lot of say in it."
The older woman's relationship with her German relatives — two nieces and a nephew — also came up. Witness statements painted a mixed picture. "Several times she told me she was already looking forward to sitting on a cloud one day, looking down and seeing that the Germans were getting nothing to inherit," reported a neighbour. A confidant of the deceased put this in perspective: "She often complained about her relatives. But when they came to visit, she was happy to see them."
The victim's German niece testified as a witness for more than two hours. She described her relationship with her aunt as always warm, with regular telephone calls and multiple visits per year to Upper Styria. At first, the niece said, her aunt had a very positive relationship with the neighbouring couple. However, in spring 2024 this had "suddenly changed". The older woman reportedly explained to her niece in a completely distressed state: "He took my money, I want my money back."
The niece only learned about the flat sale in August 2024. "My aunt was completely ashamed when she told me about it. She said the neighbour had pressured her into it." This statement from the deceased was recorded on video by relatives. However, the material was not reviewed on Thursday. Judge Armin Scheck noted that the "videos are very suggestively presented" and questioned their evidentiary value.
As the day's witness testimony also failed to produce a clear picture, Judge Scheck adjourned the hearing once more. In June, care workers had already been questioned for nine hours, and their statements at that time, taken together with suspicious bank movements, had painted a different picture from the defendants' version.
Source: Kleine Zeitung