The Austrian, who is said to have killed his three children in Croatia on Saturday, was released from the psychiatric clinic on Monday evening and handed over to the criminal police, Croatian media reported. The Zagreb police confirmed that they had arrested the 56-year-old Viennese. He is said to spend the night in police custody and to be questioned for the first time Tuesday morning.
The man had previously been transferred in the late afternoon from the Sisters of Mercy hospital, where he had been since Saturday after attempting suicide, with police escort to the Vrapce psychiatric hospital in Zagreb. The investigation there is said to have shown no need for further hospital treatment, which is why he was soon released, the media reported, citing informal sources.
“We consider the arrested person absolutely capable of negotiation,” said the head of the general crime department at the Zagreb police, Zvonimir Petrovic, referring to the fact that the Austrian had been released from the psychiatric hospital. The Viennese will be provided with an interpreter, he added to the Nova TV broadcaster. According to the rules of procedure, a lawyer must stand by his side during the questioning, reported the daily newspaper “Jutarnji List” online.
According to the news portal “Index”, the Viennese are said to have spoken about the details of the crime in the hospital, where he only started communicating with the staff on Monday. He is said to have regretted that he was still alive. As a motive for his act, he is said to have given that the rent for his apartment has expired and he could not go anywhere else. Therefore, he is said to have decided to take his own life and his children. He is said to have killed his children so that they would be with him when he died, he said according to “Index”.
He is also reported to have said that he should have felt sad, depressed and abandoned for the past three months. In the past few days he was desperate and saw no way out of the situation, he said, according to “Index”. He reportedly added that if given the opportunity, he would try again to commit suicide. According to his information, he should have swallowed more than 100 tablets on Saturday.
The Viennese should also have confirmed the suspicions of the investigators that the children should be anesthetized with drugs. Originally, based on strangle marks on the children’s necks, the police assumed that the four-year-old boy and the seven-year-old twins should be suffocated. It was later suggested that they were first to be anesthetized with medication and then suffocated. In the hospital, the father is said to have told this version, according to “Index”. The autopsy of the children on Sunday did not yet give a clear answer to the cause of death, toxicological examinations are still being carried out.
After the questioning by the police on Tuesday, a criminal complaint is to be made against the Austrian, followed by an interrogation by the public prosecutor, who will then officially open the investigation against him, according to “Jutarnji List”. Then he is supposed to be brought before the examining magistrate, who is supposed to decide either on the imposition of pre-trial detention or on a transfer to the prison hospital.