Irish hooligans attack sparks charity drive

The family of a woman crippled by a drunken Irish football fan have launched a charity to fight for the rights of others whose lives have been ruined by football violence.

Margarethe Linseis, 85, who had been visiting friends in Salzburg was so badly injured her family were told she was unlikely to survive after the attack by Paul Kelly, 23, from Dublin. But in fact the woman from Priem am Chiemsee in Bavaria, Germany, survived - but suffered such severe brain damage that she now needs 24-hour care.

At Kelly's trial in October 2010 public prosecutor Barbara Feichtinger told the court in Salzburg how Kelly and his friends had been among the 500 other Irish fans in Salzburg on the evening before the champions league qualifying game between the Bohemians Dublin and the local FC Red Bull Salzburg.

Kelly had stolen a bike belonging to waitress Bianca Boeck, 27, who had chased after him and grabbed his shirt so that he fell off. But he had then picked himself up and ran off with two pals Brendan Devlin, 22, and Mark Flynn, 20.

Kelly had pushed the old woman out of his way as he tried to escape but had then been grabbed by an Austrian man, Paul Auboeck, 23, who had seen the way in which he had pushed over the old woman.

The court heard how Auboeck had held onto Kelly but had been punched and kicked to the ground by his two pals Devlin and Flynn who had then rained blows on him as he lay on the floor - then they ran off. Auboeck who also suffered head injuries and was in hospital for two weeks had afterwards refused to press charges against the two, saying he wanted to move on with his life.

Margarethe's architect son Wolfgang Linseis, 56, said: "He knew what he had done at the time and all the radio stations were talking about the fact that my mother might not survive. She had even been given the last rites. But he ran off."

Police had sealed off the city after the incident because they expected it would be a murder hunt, but once it was clear the Irishman had left it was not pursued so enthusiastically. The court heard how Wolfgang himself had identified a crucial piece of evidence after talking to taxi drivers that told him one of the three had fallen against a tree, leaving a small blood stain that had been picked up by forensic experts.

It meant that by February 2010 they had managed to extract a sample of DNA from the bike that identified the Irishman as the same man who had provided a DNA sample when police had cleared an Irish pub in Salzburg - and taken the personal data of the 100 people present.

 

Salzburg police chief Andreas Huber said at the time he remembered the Irishman, saying: "Kelly was very arrogant then so the suspicion against him had solidified."

But Irish officials had proved reluctant to extradite Kelly, and it meant police had to wait until he left the country – and that happened in September 2010 when he went for a holiday on Ibiza and was arrested at the airport - and extradited to Austria after a month in a Spanish jail.

Wolfgang added: "You get the feeling that almost everything is okay in the name of football. We really had to pursue this at every step of the way to make sure he was brought to justice - and when he finally appeared in court instead of an apology it was quite obvious he didn't feel at all that he was in the wrong. He had had a few too many drinks. He was arrogant and aloof and has even now still not apologised."

Jobless Kelly had pleaded not guilty to charges of negligent serious assault (Margarethe), theft (of the bike), assault (Mr Auboeck) and making threats when he appeared in court. Although he was found guilty he was given just a seven months sentence, six suspended. Because he had been in custody for a month awaiting extradition he was allowed to walk free straight away. And although the cost of round-the-clock care for Mrs Linseis has been estimated at close to 400,000 Euros, that included the 1,000 a day for 5 months in intensive care and then various rehab centres, he was ordered to pay just 10,000 Euros in compensation. The only other income the family has is a pension for the care of their mother of 650 Euros a month.

Defence lawyer Clemens Zeilinger said it was an "unfortunate series of events", stressing that his client was no violent criminal.

But Wolfgang Linseis said that the fact he had never apologised spoke volumes. He added: "He claimed to be unemployed but he also said he had been to hundreds of Bohemians games each of which costs up to 40 Euros to attend. I wonder how he can afford that being unemployed.

Stefan Rieder, Margarethe's lawyer, told the court that although Kelly had arrived with his father and tried to seem as if he wouldn't hurt a fly he had in fact already been registered with police in Wiesbaden, Germany, as a "dangerous hooligan".

Wolfgang said: "My mother suffered a third degree traumatic brain injury and a basal skull fracture, is physically disabled and suffered a serious post traumatic change of character. One eye is a also destroyed. The neurologist who treated her told me that several brain areas had been cut off from oxygen so nobody can tell how she will recover psychologically. When you talk to her she might tell of some nice event of the past but she is unable to answer concrete questions."

He added: "This whole affair has ended the active and vibrant life of my mother who is now in need of 24-hour care, my sister has had to give up her job to provide that care and we have all had to suffer while this was brought to court. But although we have had help from the victim support group the white ring and even from the German football fans in FC Bavaria - we feel there is not enough being done in material terms for the physical needs of the victims of such sporting violence.

"We want to start an organisation to build a care centre where they can get treatment and advice for victims and families - we have had nobody that has been able to come in and look after our mother so we could take a break. We want to set up a unique residency to treat victims and support them by various therapies including sports, traditional Chinese medicine, psychosocial care and also job and finance related issues."

At a press conference in March in Vienna the family unveiled details of the new charity for victims of hooligan violence which they call the "Roter Ritter", German for "Red Knight".

By Richard Wolf

We would like to thank the Austrian Press Agency for their help and support with this project.
 
Journalism Without Borders helped the family set up the charity including liaising with media and advising in related matters and is now collecting money to fund the project.