Because a 54-year-old Viennese man thought his beloved father had been exchanged for a doppelganger, he attacked him with a meat tenderizer and, according to the prosecution, also with scissors. Not the first attack by the man, who suffers from a rare mental illness – doppelganger delusion. The offense in question is attempted murder. He sits before the jury as a victim. It’s about his admission, which was ultimately ordered.
“I was very afraid that the doppelganger would do something to me,” said the 54-year-old in the trial in the Vienna regional court. The victim was his own father, with whom he lives in an apartment in Vienna. The mother died in 2017. Son: “I just wanted to anesthetize him” While the 79-year-old was watching a women’s soccer game on TV, he suddenly felt a dull thud. His son had hit him on the head with a wooden meatball. Because he delusionally thought that his father had been exchanged. “From whom?” the judge wants to know. “From organized crime,” comes the answer. “I just wanted to anesthetize him so I could call the police.” “I was covered in blood,” remembers the victim, who also suffered a stab wound with kitchen scissors. “We have a good relationship. As long as he takes his medication everything is fine. Then we have fun.” But as soon as the person affected put it down, he became dangerous. The meat hammer attack was not the first attack. The man had often become conspicuous before and had to be admitted to the psychiatric hospital in Hietzing several times. “In 2021, he hit his father on the head with a trophy from behind,” reports the prosecutor. Father: “You look good” The man, who, according to psychiatrist Sigrun Roßmanith, suffers from the rare “Capgras syndrome” – i.e. doppelganger delusion – has not seen his father since his arrest last August. When he is called as a witness, there is a reunion. “You are looking good. I feel bored at home alone,” says the 79-year-old lovingly to the person who attacked him several times. He knows about his son’s serious illness – who always thinks he is a doppelganger. The verdict for the 49-year-old was given on Wednesday evening: He was admitted to a forensic therapeutic center.
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