At the end of May 2024, the 55-year-old bomber who terrified Jehovah’s Witnesses in Styria was caught. The investigation by the Graz public prosecutor’s office has now been completed – charges could soon be brought against him.

For months, a “phantom” kept Styria on tenterhooks: several attacks were carried out in the vicinity of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious community, starting with two car bombs in Leibnitz. This was followed by an explosive device in Kalsdorf and a car torched in Premstätten. Fortunately, there were no victims.

Personal revenge as a motive

While a religious motive was initially suspected, it later turned out that it was a very personal story. In May of the previous year, the suspect, then 55 years old, was arrested. The IT technician from the Graz-Umgebung district wanted to kill his ex-wife after a bitter dispute over maintenance that had lasted for years. The man himself was a Jehovah’s Witness for a long time, but was disfellowshipped after the divorce.

The investigations by the Graz public prosecutor’s office have recently been completed, and the report on a possible (and likely expected) indictment has already been submitted to the senior public prosecutor’s office, as confirmed to the “Steirerkrone”.