Two men convicted over firecrackers thrown into bedroom

Two men have been convicted over a firecracker attack on a 19-year-old woman, in a trial that ended Thursday in Wiener Neustadt, ORF reported. The jury rejected the charge of attempted murder.

The men, aged 19 and 22, were found guilty of negligent bodily harm and serious criminal damage. One received a 10-month suspended sentence. The other was sentenced to 20 months in prison, 14 of them suspended. The verdicts are not yet final.

Two other defendants, accused of being accomplices, were acquitted after several hours of jury deliberations. Their acquittals are also not yet final.

The two main defendants were accused of breaking two windows and throwing two firecrackers into the bedroom of a 19-year-old woman in Perchtoldsdorf, in the district of Mödling, during the night of January 8. The firecrackers exploded beside her as she slept. She has suffered from tinnitus since.

The prosecution alleged that the men had risked the woman’s death, although it said they may not have intended to kill her. The defendants denied the allegations. According to a report by the newspaper Kurier cited by ORF, the illegal category F4 firecrackers were bought at the Czech border.