Eccentric celebrity-mad multi-millionaire Richard Lugner was conned out of 150,000 GBP by fraudster claiming to be Halle Berry’s manager, a court has heard. Tycoon Lugner – infamous for inviting celebs to Austria’s annual Vienna Opera Ball – had been negotiating with the conwoman to bring the Hollywood actress to the city as his guest at […]
Former Austrian interior minister and Euro MP, Ernst Strasser, has been sentenced to four years in jail for bribe-taking. His lawyer has instantly said he will appeal meaning that Strasser will not go to jail until the appeal has been heard. Strasser, 56, of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (OeVP), was one of four MEPs […]
A hotheaded Hungarian got the chance to cool off after threatening to kill his girlfriend and her sister when he jumped into the river Salzach and tried to swim away in order to escape police. But with the temperature in the river just under 12 degrees the 41-year-old Hungarian was soon in difficulties and had […]
Wardens at the Austrian jail housing cellar monster Josef Fritzl are threatening strike action claiming they are overworked and underpaid. The 300 staff at Austria’s Krems-Stein jail which contains almost 900 seriously disturbed inmates say they have reached breaking point. The prison’s staff council spokesman Harald Gerstl said: “Many of us simply cannot go on. […]
A Viennese man has been sentenced to prison for molesting his daughter for five years. The 55-year-old – who resided with his family in Burgenland for years – was ordered to spend 18 years at a secure institution for felons with psychological disorders by a court in Eisenstadt yesterday (Tues). The verdict is not yet […]
A banker found guilty of accounting fraud and embezzlement in a controversial trial plans to sue the state, it has emerged. Jürgen Stephan Mertens, a lawyer representing Helmut Elsner, announced today (Thurs) his client planned to take the Republic of Austria to court over his bad health. Elsner was released due to his fragile condition […]
A convicted felon on the run from prison was rearrested after he had got picked up during a traffic check, police reported today (Tues). Police in Vienna-Floridsdorf found out that the 27-year-old man had bunked from a jail a few weeks ago. They checked his ID after he had given contradictory statements about who owned […]
An Upper Austrian doctor is accused of having molested a young patient. The man was arrested yesterday (Weds), local officials said today. They explained investigators became active after having received tip-offs accusing the medic of sexual abuse. Prosecutors in Wels announced that the general practitioner was accused of having produced pornographic images of children for […]
An Austrian pensioner has been sentenced to more than four years in jail for molesting kids and possessing underage pornographic material by a court in Spain.Judges heard how Rudolf C. lured the boys a neighbour, 14, and his nine-year-old nephew into his villa in San Juan de Alicante at the Costa Blanca for […]
A teenage convict had his jail term extended for writing threatening letters to the president.Michael D., who currently serves time behind bars in Gerasdorf near Vienna for various youth crimes, wrote to Federal President Heinz Fischer some months ago he “would love to torture you if there is enough time.”The 17-year-old warned the former Social […]