Sobre este lugar
Herbert von Karajan Platz is Salzburg at its most elegant: the marble Pferdeschwemme, designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in 1695 as a bathing pool for the prince archbishops' parade horses, stands beneath the Mönchsberg cliff at the entrance to the Festspielbezirk, where the former court stables became the Großes Festspielhaus in 1960. But in the small hours the district belongs to night patrols and taxis, and in the night of 14 to 15 March 2021 it became a crime scene. At about 1:50 am a security guard in his early sixties confronted a 48 year old taxi driver who had parked beside the Wilder Mann fountain in Hofstallgasse, in front of the university's great hall. The argument escalated, the guard drew a pocket knife, and the driver was stabbed in the upper abdomen. The wounded man phoned the police himself and described his attacker so precisely that officers arrested the guard minutes later in nearby Getreidegasse, on suspicion of attempted murder. On 30 September 2021 a Salzburg jury rejected that charge: the guard, who said he had been trembling with fear and never meant to stab anyone, was convicted of negligent serious bodily harm and given a six month suspended sentence. The case shows how quickly a parking row in the shadow of the festival halls can slide toward a killing, and how much a verdict can hinge on a wound just three centimetres deep.
Datos clave
- 110 minutes past midnight — The stabbing happened at about 1:50 am on 15 March 2021 in Hofstallgasse, in front of the university's great hall beside the festival halls.
- 3 centimetres — The depth of the stab wound in the taxi driver's abdomen: the abdominal cavity was opened, but no organ was hit and his life was never in acute danger.
- 6 months suspended — On 30 September 2021 a Salzburg jury rejected attempted murder and convicted the guard of negligent serious bodily harm.
📍 Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz, 5020, Salzburg