Klagenfurt
An Austrian court has convicted a woman of the death of her neighbour from Covid. The Klagenfurt District Court considered it probable that the defendant, now 54, infected the man with cancer in December 2021. She was sentenced to four months in prison for gross negligence manslaughter.
The woman must also pay a fine of 200 euros per day, or 4 euros per day, for a total of 800 euros. The ruling is not yet final.
A neighbor died of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus. Experts confirmed through genetic analysis that the virus in the deceased was “almost 100%” identical to the woman’s. The expert explained that such high-level coverage is very rare because the coronavirus changes so quickly.
Not isolated despite positive test result
“I feel sorry for you personally. It must have happened hundreds of times,” the judge told the defendant in his sentencing. “But it is unfortunate that the expert has concluded with almost certainty that the infection originated from you.” The judge explained that this alone was enough to convict the defendant.
In July 2023, the woman was already sentenced to three months probation for deliberately putting herself at risk from a contagious disease. In December 2021, despite testing positive for the coronavirus, she ignored mandatory quarantine, left her apartment, and spoke to people without a mask. The neighbor’s death is now being heard in a separate trial.
According to his family, a neighbor met a woman with coronavirus in the hallway. She said she was so sick at the time that she couldn’t even get up. From her perspective, she had bronchitis, not coronavirus. “It’s like every winter,” she told the court.
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