Status: 18.08.2023, 20:00 p.m.
By: Josef Hornsteiner
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Beatings in dangerous terrain: The Mittenwalder Höhenweg is steeply sloping and exposed in many places. This will be taken into account in the police investigation. SYmbo © private
This act stunned nationwide. A 45-year-old mountain guide from the district was unconscious on the Mittenwalder Höhenweg and beaten to hospital. Now the police are investigating dangerous bodily injury – a suspect has now been identified.
Mittenwald – He is still in hospital, suffering from the consequences of the beatings. The 45-year-old mountain guide, who was brutally beaten up on Saturday a week ago on the Mittenwalder Höhenweg after an aid operation on the via ferrata, is marked by the incomprehensible act of violence that shook beyond the country's borders. His jaw was broken by the maltreatment. Slowly he is on the road to recovery,
Meanwhile, the police are investigating on behalf of the public prosecutor's office for dangerous bodily harm, as the attack is said to have taken place in a very steep and exposed area. The fact that the mountain guide did not fall into the depths during the attack was merely a blessing in disguise. It is impossible to imagine that the blows, which even briefly caused the 45-year-old to lose consciousness, would have caused him to stagger on a path where in some places it goes many meters into the depths.
Internet research, photos and videos brought a hot lead
Meanwhile, the police have identified a suspect. Based on internet research and photos and videos. These had been made by the participants of the five-member group, which the mountain guide accompanied along the high-altitude trail. According to the officials, these relevant indications were the decisive factor. The recordings have also spread rapidly on the Internet. Thousands wanted to help find the violent perpetrator, who, according to initial police reports, comes from Eastern Europe.
Bergwacht Mittenwald drove police officers with the "Pinzgauer" to the exits of the via ferrata to catch the suspect
In the numerous pictures and videos, the alleged perpetrator can be seen with another companion and a woman. She had previously seemed apparently insecure and frightened, which is why the mountain guide from the district wanted to rush to her aid. The safety action probably misunderstood them, cried out, whereupon the male companion followed the convoy for over 30 minutes on the via ferrata. When he caught up with the group, he gave the mountain guide a head nut and at least one brutal punch in the face, causing the local to suffer fractures to his maxillary sinus.
The Mittenwald mountain rescue service supported the police that day. "We drove the police officers with the Pinzgauer (editor's note: off-road vehicle)," explains mountain rescuer Christoph Schmidt. The officers were dropped, among other things, at the foot of the Brunnstein, where it was suspected that the suspect could leave from there.