It was a case that shocked the entire country: An Egyptian (47), who could not get over the break-up with his ex-flame, became a firebug and took brutal revenge on the tobacconist (35). After the cowardly arson attack, Nadine W. had to struggle agonisingly with death for over a month. In the end, she finally died: the burns all over her body were too severe.
Already the relationship with Ashraf A. must have had more of a nightmare than the fairy tale from the Arabian Nights that the once fun-loving woman must have believed in when she met the Egyptian. For he soon showed his true colours and became more and more jealous. A year and a half ago, he even bugged her shop because he wanted to know who she was talking to and about what. Again and again they broke up, but she could not break away for a long time. But the longed-for improvement never came. When it was finally over, he attacked her!
“I wanted to teach her a lesson” – with these inconceivable words A. coldly tried to justify the arson attack. So late in the morning of March the 5th he went to the tobacconist’s in the Alsergrund district of Vienna. So that no one from outside could see him putting his terrible plan into practice, he pulled the blinds shut. As soon as the room was completely opaque, he didn’t hesitate, but brutally punched Nadine W. in the face.
The woman went down on the spot, but the suspect did not let go of her. For minutes he tried to strangle her, when she was desperately gasping for air, he had no mercy. He pressed harder and harder – until he thought she was dead. But she was still moving. He then doused her with petrol, choked her again and simply set his ex-girlfriend on fire!
As soon as he had done the cruel work, he calmly made off. He left the shop and even locked it. For the burning woman, however, the martyrdom was just beginning. The fact that she did not immediately burn alive was due to the fact that attentive passers-by managed to overcome their shock and had the presence of mind to smash the glass door with a shopping trolley. This gave Nadine W. at least a tiny chance of not dying immediately in the hell of fire…
The tobacconist rushed out of the interior into the open. Screaming in agony, she desperately tried to keep herself standing. Soon she stumbled and collapsed in front of her shop, severely injured due to the unbelievable pain. Nadine W. was still burning brightly! A paramedic who happened to be nearby rushed over and then smothered the flames with blankets.
She was immediately taken to hospital – where her condition initially stabilised. This means that the immediate danger to her life was over – but not the pain. It was already clear after the attack that the return to a normal life, if at all possible, would be long and difficult. But the sympathy of the citizens was great when her family started a fundraising campaign. More than 46,000 euros were collected for the victim.
Now there is sad certainty: Nadine W. can no longer take this difficult path back. The burns all over her body were too fatal. After four weeks of unbelievable agony, she died as a result of the cowardly and brutal arson attack. The suspicion against her Egyptian ex-boyfriend thus intensifies to murder. He now faces a life sentence for the disgusting act. In view of the brutality – a surveillance video filmed the atrocity.
Unfortunately, such attacks are not an isolated incident. In recent years, there have been repeated fatal attacks on women in our country. Regularly, the insulted pride of the spurned men is mixed with problematic moral concepts, which the perpetrators are sometimes imparted from their own culture. All too often this is a dangerous cocktail, the result of which is an attack that leads to permanent disfigurement or even death.
In this respect, a case that happened in Steyr at the end of 2018 is unforgettable. At that time, Saber A. (17) from Afghanistan stabbed his girlfriend Michelle F. (16) to death in her children’s room. At that time, too, audio recordings suggested that the teenager wanted to break up with the migrant. He then stabbed her – and commented on his crime afterwards with the words: “I made a murder.” Subsequently, political demands for a change in asylum and migration law arose.