Trial begins in 2005 Innsbruck student killing

The trial of a 42-year-old man accused of murdering a student in Innsbruck in 2005 began Monday at the Innsbruck Regional Court, ORF reported. The Austrian, who lives in Australia, denies the charge.

Prosecutors allege that he killed the 19-year-old from Lower Austria with two forceful knife wounds to her chest and back in the early hours of June 23, 2005. She was found dead beside a telephone booth in Rapoldipark, a park in Innsbruck. The knife was never found.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Adelheid Steiner said DNA evidence linked the accused to the scene. His DNA was found on a cigarette butt near the student’s body, in a blood trace at the scene, under the victim’s fingernails and on her bicycle. Steiner said the findings indicated that the woman had been grabbed and attacked with considerable force. She said the wounds were inflicted with a kitchen knife about 16 centimetres long. Prosecutors have not identified a possible motive.

The victim had attended a student party, as had the accused, who was a fellow student at the time. Both were heavily intoxicated, Steiner said; the student had a blood alcohol level of 2.1 per mille. The accused has said that she rode away from the apartment where they had last been together. Two witnesses, however, said they saw a woman matching her description walking unsteadily, Steiner said. The pair were alone in the victim’s final hour, but prosecutors say it is not known what happened then.

The accused had previously come under suspicion and was arrested at Vienna airport in December 2013 after arriving from Australia. He was released after seven weeks, and the investigation was closed in February 2014 after a DNA trace on the victim’s clothing proved less conclusive than initially thought.

Prosecutors brought charges again this spring. The Innsbruck Higher Regional Court rejected the defence’s request to dismiss the indictment, saying there was concrete suspicion but not the level of strong suspicion required for pre-trial detention. The accused has consistently maintained his innocence. His lawyer has argued that the DNA on the cigarette filter is not evidence of the crime and that no motive has been established.

The trial is scheduled to last two days, with a verdict expected on Friday.