AUSTRIA:AN AUSTRIAN man was facing life imprisonment last night, accused of trying to poison a local politician with a poisoned chocolate.
Helmut Osberger (56) denies trying to kill Hannes Hirtzberger, mayor of the Austrian town of Spitz, in a case that has transfixed the country.
On February 8th, an envelope appeared on Mr Hirtzberger's car windshield with a message, written in lipstick and embellished with two hearts: "I wanted to tell you something important - you're something special to me". Inside the card was a "Mon Cherie" chocolate with cherry liqueur filling.
The following day, after his morning run, Mr Hirtzberger (55) popped the chocolate in his mouth and drove to work. Minutes later, he collapsed after getting out of his car. He told passersby that he'd been poisoned, was rushed to hospital and placed in a medically induced coma. On the wrapper of the chocolate forensic investigators found traces of strychnine.
Two weeks later, after posting a €20,000 reward, police arrested Mr Osberger. They say that DNA tests linked him to the card; later they said they found traces of strychnine on his body.
Mr Osberger denied any involvement, saying he "harboured no animosity" towards the mayor. "We know each other 35 years, he was my lawyer," he said. But his son (23) told the court that his father was "mad at Hirtzberger" over the rezoning of some land. "He said that he planned to kill him some day," the son said, recounting how his father forced him to spit into a jam jar last February. "He told me he wanted to fake DNA tests if it came to that," he said.
A second son (22) remembered a list of three people his father said he wanted to "get even with": the boyfriend of his ex-wife, a former tenant, and the mayor.
The mayor is still in a critical condition in hospital. His wife of 33 years, Renate, told the court yesterday she had discovered the envelope on the windshield early that morning. "Do you have an admirer?" she remembers asking her husband as he showered. "It looks that way," he said, "but I don't know who it is." "It was the last laugh that we shared," said Mrs Hirtzberg, fighting back tears.
