The court in Innsbruck handed Thomas P a five-month suspended prison sentence and a €9,400 fine over death of woman named as Kerstin G
An Austrian court has found a 37-year-old amateur mountaineer guilty of manslaughter over his girlfriend’s death near Austria’s highest summit, after he left her to fetch help when she could not go on.
The case is unusual because while climbing accidents are common, prosecutions over them are rare.
The court in the western city of Innsbruck handed the Austrian man a five-month suspended prison sentence and a €9,400 ($11,100) fine for causing her death in January 2025 by gross negligence, an offence that carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.
The trial has raised questions about the extent of legal liability in the high mountains, an inherently dangerous environment that climbers generally explore at their own risk.
