"For the fight against crime" Man robs bank and takes loot straight to the police
A man robs the bank where he is a regular customer. He takes the loot straight to the police - with an astonishing explanation. Now he is on trial.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- A man robbed a bank in Vienna and then handed in the loot at the nearest police station.
- In court, the 23-year-old described the crime as a joke. The police should use the money to fight addiction.
- A psychiatrist diagnoses schizophrenia and the judge orders him to be placed in a psychiatric institution.
The bank robbery gets off to a bad start: "Give me the money! Only five hundred!" a 23-year-old man shouts at a bank employee in Vienna-Donaustadt. She knows him, he visits the branch regularly as a customer.
He forms a pistol with his fingers under a plastic bag.
The employee initially wants to send the young man away, but then becomes unsure whether there might be a real gun in the bag after all.
So she tells the robber that there are no 500 euro bills.
"I want money. This is a test robbery for the police," returns the man, who the "Kronenzeitung" describes as Viennese.
Loot "for the fight against crime"
She has already pressed the emergency button, which counter staff can use to alert the police inconspicuously, when she hands over a few thousand euros to the man. The situation was very unpleasant, the "Kronenzeitung" later quoted her as saying.
The man leaves the bank with the money and does what bank robbers rarely do: he goes to the nearest police station and hands over his loot to the officers.
He explained to the police that he had carried out a test robbery and that he and the police should use the stolen money together to fight crime.
They were just about to move out, the emergency button had indicated the robbery. So there stood the alleged perpetrator in front of them with the loot in his hand.
Confused, addicted to drugs, homeless
His good intentions, at least from his point of view, do not protect the bank robber from legal prosecution. In court, however, the focus is not on the appropriate punishment, but on a therapeutic measure.
The court psychiatrist diagnoses paranoid schizophrenia, his thoughts are bizarre, the crime is permeated by an aggressive psychosis.
The 23-year-old Viennese now explains the attack as a joke. He had only been acting. He had brought the money to the officers "so that we could get the drug trade under control".
The Kronenzeitung describes the man's appearance in court as calm, polite, but confused. His previous history does not speak in his favor either: he had been a drug addict and had been homeless at times. He had been admitted to a psychiatric clinic eleven times in the past. Each time, however, he was released after a short time.
In this case, his stay will be longer. The judge orders him to be placed in a psychiatric institution.
Do you or does someone you know have a mental illness? You can find help here:
- Pro Mente Sana, phone 0848 800 858
- Kinderseele Schweiz, counseling for mentally distressed parents and their relatives
- Postpartum Depression Association, telephone 044 720 25 55
- Angehörige.ch, advice and contact points
- VASK, regional associations for relatives
- Swiss Self-Help Foundation, coordination and service center for regional self-help centers
- Pro Juventute, advice for children and young people, telephone 147
- Dargebotene Hand, worry hotline, telephone 143
- Anxiety and Panic Help Switzerland, phone 0848 801 109
