The Body in the Swimming Pond

The 10th district, Favoriten, is the largest district in the Austrian capital, Vienna, and is home to 10 per cent of the city’s total population. It is regarded as Vienna’s crime hotspot, where the highest number of offences are committed. One such crime, which remains unforgettable to this day because of its brutality, took place on the Wienerberg, the recreational area of Favoriten. It was 7 August 1994 when, at around 3 am, walkers out with their dog discovered the naked body of a woman not far from the Ziegelteich on the Wienerberg. The woman’s body, which had been covered with grass, had two branches over 60 centimetres long inserted into her anus. A blood-stained twig lay beside her. According to the post-mortem report, this had been thrust deep into her vagina on multiple occasions. The woman had died from severe head injuries. Who on earth was capable of such a heinous act? The victim was 17-year-old Sabine Wurm, who had met up with her friends at the swimming pond the previous evening to go for a swim and have a bit of a party. Also present was a 20-year-old bricklayer who had had his eye on Sabine for some time. As she splashed about alone in the water, he made sexual advances towards her, but she fiercely resisted the young man’s advances. She swam back to the bank and hurled abuse at him. That’s when the young man snapped and began punching Sabine in the head and neck until she fell to the ground, dead. In a fit of rage, he inserted branches and twigs into her abdomen. The 20-year-old, who could not explain his own actions, was sentenced to a long prison term by the Vienna Juvenile Criminal Court.