An Austrian woman is convicted for causing her neighbor to die from COVID-19

On September 13, 2024, news from Vienna. According to local media reports, a 54-year-old woman in Austria was convicted for causing her neighbor to die from COVID-19 in 2021. This is the second time within a year that she has been convicted of a crime related to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, the judge sentenced the woman to four months of probation and an 800-euro fine on the charge of aggravated manslaughter.

The victim, a cancer patient, died of pneumonia caused by the COVID-19 virus. A virologist said in court that the virology report shows that the virus DNA matches that of the deceased and the woman, proving that the defendant "almost 100%" transmitted the virus. The judge said that although he felt sorry for her, as similar situations could have occurred hundreds of times, the woman was unfortunately identified by experts as the source of infection. The judgment has not been finalized yet. According to Austrian privacy regulations, the names of the victim and the defendant have not been released.

It is reported that the woman was convicted of a COVID-related crime last summer and was sentenced to three months of probation for intentionally endangering others through infectious diseases. At that time, she was acquitted of the charge of aggravated manslaughter. This week, the judge heard the statements of the family members of the deceased, saying that neighbors had contact in the stairwell on December 21, 2021. The defendant should have known that she was infected with the COVID-19 virus, but she denied the meeting, saying that she was too sick to get out of bed that day and thought she had bronchitis. However, the woman's doctor told the police that the defendant tested positive in a rapid test and said that she would not let herself be "locked up" after the test results came out.