GUILTY Austria - Thomas Plamberger leaves gf, Kerstin Gurtner to freeze to death on Austria's tallest mountain - charged with manslaughter - Jan.19/2025

[ChatteringBirds]

@georgiajean
Thank you for posting the trial updates.

 

[georgiajean]

Hanging on what?
There is nothing to hang on on the last 50m of the route and on the rampe that she was allegedly on.
She had to be there, cause on the other hand there is NOTHING to walk on knees on BEFORE that rampe. Its a wall, that horrible vertical wall with fixed ropes when climbers had to pull themselves up over, then walk few metres on the side of the stone to the rampe.
She would have crashed over the south face? SOUTH FACE? South face is Studlgrat, its whats visible from Lucknerhaus-Lucknerhutte. Side of the rampe is North face, part of it is obscured from view from Luckner... so she had to be totally totally down the rampe or not even there yet. And that's literally just metres from where they were when heli showed up.
Thats hard, hard part of the route with the hardest spot on the route but come on.

From reading all of the court notes so far, it appears that he attempted to secure her by tying her up in ropes. I assume they were attached to bolts in the rocks? Or tied around rocks?? And that she hung herself up on the ropes. But they rescuers said they saw no way that she slipped. What does that mean? So he went to the trouble of trying to secure her with ropes, but did not help her get into blankets or bivouac? She had no gloves on, meaning she had taken them off? Boots untied because she untied them?

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

And, here it is, what some of us have suspected.....) ""He has always taken good care of me during the tours. When difficulties arose, it wasn't always like that," the ex-girlfriend makes people sit up and take notice, "I was sometimes afraid. In these situations, he tended to get grumpy." And further: "On a high alpine tour on the Glockner, the mood was bad. I was at the end of my rope, I was dizzy, my headlamp was off, I cried and screamed. I also signaled that to him. Then suddenly he was gone, he went ahead, left me behind.""

This seems to me like the best explanation for what happened that day with Kerstin for the state she was found in.

 

[pol100gk]

Another big question - why was she not wearing gloves when she was found?

 

[beubeubeu]

From reading all of the court notes so far, it appears that he attempted to secure her by tying her up in ropes. I assume they were attached to bolts in the rocks? Or tied around rocks?? And that she hung herself up on the ropes. But they rescuers said they saw no way that she slipped. What does that mean? So he went to the trouble of trying to secure her with ropes, but did not help her get into blankets or bivouac? She had no gloves on, meaning she had taken them off? Boots untied because she untied them?

That guy is approx 50m in elevation below the summit.
Lights are more like 50m of mostly walking up to the summit.

Both spots have a lot of nice shielding places.
Where the lights are it looks like that (view from the summit-angle)

99% of that route is where you can slip and fall very easily and there is next to no way to even sit or stand comfortably to catch a breath. But that, where lights are its literally the "safest".
You can always slip but to hang with head stretched backwards and one miracle away from crashing down?
I cant imagine it happening accidentally. Unless he wanted that to happen. Which is, what I believe happened there.

 

[beubeubeu]

Another big question - why was she not wearing gloves when she was found?

Maybe cause at that point she didnt have any.
Or she could take them off cause of burning pain and swelling from frostbites. Same with shoes.
But would she be able to do that at that point, or did he helped. Even if he did we have to assume that he didnt.

 

[pol100gk]

Or she could have taken them off, don't people who freeze to death begin to feel warm when they reach an extreme state of low body temperature? That would explain the boots and gloves though I can't imagine that it is easy to take off your boots when your hand is injured and your hands have been in extreme cold. I have trouble with finger agility after snow shoveling in extreme cold wearing gloves and that is a non-event compared to climbing for 18 hours on a windy mountain with excruciating wind chill.

 

[pol100gk]

The judge is starting the "Aktenverlesung' which I would translate as summary.

 

[Hexe]

It looks more and more clear to me Plamberger punished Kerstin because she dared to have some difficulties during the climb.

MOO

 

[georgiajean]

It looks more and more clear to me Plamberger punished Kerstin because she dared to have some difficulties during the climb.

MOO

I believe the testimony from the ex-girlfriend is the most damning to TP. That there was a similar situation with a girlfriend on the same mountain allows us to see what he would be like under stress of an emergency. Reading between the lines of his testimony, I believe he is saying just enough of the truth so he won't catch himself in lies. And he uses the "I don't recall" so often. KG yelled at him a few times, but he couldn't understand what she said (because they were no longer connected by the rope and he had gone ahead). She lost a glove, he gives him one of his spares. He never explained (at least as far as the reporter's notes go) what he actually did to secure her before he left....

 

[georgiajean]

This is part VIII of the updates from Schlagabtausch zwischen Verteidiger und Ermittler Updates continued in next post.

Alpine expert continues to share his report:

""From an alpine technical point of view, it is incomprehensible that the duo did not need any help - as the defendant testified," is another result. The man from Salzburg has decided to "flee forward" - "that is rarely helpful," emphasizes the expert. And: "Why the defendant set his cell phone to silent is not acceptable from a professional point of view. Because you have to be available at all times."

"Many other behaviors on the part of the defendant were "absolutely incomprehensible" in the eyes of the expert."

"The judge intervenes: "We are not doing a media show." At the same time, he now asks the expert to present the 93-page report "actually in an abridged version" – as it has been available to himself, the defense and the public prosecutor's office for weeks. The expert continues to report and concludes shortly afterwards." (What did the judge mean with that comment? And why "abridged version?" Was the expert taking too long?)

"Now follow questions for the expert - Judge Norbert Hofer makes the start again. In between, there are sometimes heated battles of words between the expert and the defense attorney." (I wish the reporter would record these heated words!)

""With everything I have taken away from today's proceedings so far, there are no changes in my report," says the expert clearly. The defense attorney probes. "Is a commuter with 20 minutes comprehensible?", Jelinek wants to know. "Yes," is the answer." (I do not understand this question.)

"The defense lawyer asks: "Do you know that the victim had two Instagram accounts? They would have received even more information." The expert answers: "No, I didn't know that. Everything I was provided with was sufficient for me." Further questions followed."

"Now the file is read out by the judge - "short and sweet", as he emphasizes. In the course of this, videos will be shown. For example: the infrared image of the police helicopter. The duo is clearly visible on it."

"In the meantime, the trial has been going on for 13 hours in the jury courtroom of the Innsbruck Regional Court. The hall is still fully occupied, every seat is occupied."

"The public prosecutor Johann Frischmann wants to keep it "short" in view of the advancing time. He points out, among other things, that "you should have turned around at the breakfast place at the latest", you would also have had to "make an emergency call" and you would have "always had to be available". "Furthermore, it should be noted that the woman was left defenseless. That is incomprehensible.""

"Now the defense attorney Kurt Jelinek speaks up. "Today we saw that mistakes have happened - but not on my client's side," he emphasizes at the beginning of his plea. "It is still a fateful misfortune," Jelinek continues. The call at 00.35 a.m. was a "misunderstanding" - in the course of which he points to the "extreme state" in which the defendant had been. If you look at the penalty treaty, points one to seven are "very much a matter of opinion"."

""From my point of view, one can by no means assume gross negligence," said the defender of the Salzburger, "he wanted to help". In the course of this, he refers to the irreproachability. "I request that my client be acquitted.""

"Judge Norbert Hofer now needs "ten minutes to make a decision"."

 

[georgiajean]

Judge will make his ruling after a short recess.

 

[georgiajean]

Judge Norbert Hofer is back in the jury courtroom. He announces the verdict in a few minutes.

 

[Charlot123]

It looks more and more clear to me Plamberger punished Kerstin because she dared to have some difficulties during the climb.

MOO

Obviously she became a "problem" as she was slowing him down. And he gets horribly angry in these cases.

 

[georgiajean]

GUILTY
The defendant was found guilty. As charged, he was convicted of grossly negligent homicide. The verdict is a five-month conditional imprisonment, and a fine of 9600 euros was also imposed. Tod am Großglockner: Urteil nach über 13 Stunden

 

[planet]

This is part VI of the updates from Schlagabtausch zwischen Verteidiger und Ermittler Updates continued in next post.

"Now it's the turn of another investigator, he reveals his memories of the said operation on the Glockner. "Among other things, I checked in the parking lot which vehicles were still in the parking lot," he describes, "we quickly knew the owner and were able to find the phone number.""

"The investigator had tried to contact the defendant "through various channels". "First by means of the messenger service," he testifies. After that, when he had the phone number, I called the alpinist several times – without success. "Then I sent him text messages and WhatsApp – before the police helicopter took off from Salzburg," he recalls, "that wasn't successful either.""

"The police helicopter then discovered the duo on the Glockner. "The handling of the radio traffic therefore went through me. We also had the webcam images available - unfortunately they are only updated every 30 minutes at night," says the investigator."

"There were "no" signs of help from the two alpinists. "Of course, I also tried to contact the woman. That didn't work either," he says, "it was clear to us that there was no emergency call on the mountain." The policeman substantiates this with conclusive arguments."

""I had the first contact with the defendant at 00.35 a.m. He actively called me on my mobile phone number," the policeman recalls. He was at home at the time. "He told me that he was the alpinist who was on the Glockner with his girlfriend. I also questioned why he hasn't come forward so far. He said to me: 'We don't need anything up here, everything is fine.'" He then also advised him that "they have to keep doing" to get down to the valley. Then the phone call was over - "I tried twice afterwards to reach him again by phone". There was always a dial tone and then the mobile box. "The same thing happened with the girlfriend's cell phone.""

"The investigator adds: "There was no reaction to any contact attempts on our part. That's why we assumed that the situation was right." At 00:49 a.m., he sent the defendant a WhatsApp message with the content: "Do you need help or not???" "None" answer came back. And the investigator emphasizes again: "There was not a single piece of information that there was an emergency.""

""The defendant did not tell me during the phone call at 00:35 a.m. that he would need help," says the investigator. The Salzburg native presented it differently today before Judge Norbert Hofer."

"The next successful contact happened at 3.30 a.m. "The alpinist told me that they were in the winter room of the Adlersruhe," he says, "at first I thought that everything was fine. But then he told me that he had left his girlfriend behind on the Glockner." As a result, the rescue operation started, and the investigator himself was present at the rescue."

"Now the policeman meticulously describes the operation - including concrete times. "We were dropped off on the Glockner south face and then ascended. We came across the alpinist in the Adlersruhe," he says. The exchange was short and sweet because they wanted to save time. "He emphasized again that he left his girlfriend behind.""

(This is horrible to read, trigger warning) "The emergency services continued up to the summit. "We found the alpinist in a hanging position. She had her backpack on her back, her head stretched backwards. Her eyes were wide open, she wasn't wearing gloves, the boots were open," he says, "for us it was a miracle that she stayed in that position." If the wind had been even stronger, "she would have crashed over the south face"."

"Now photos of the scene of the accident are shown. Once again, Judge Norbert Hofer asks the witness detailed questions. For example: "How does she get into such a position?" the judge asks. The investigator, who is with the Alpine task force, answers: "I can't explain that." Hofer: "Could the victim end up like that due to a fall?" The policeman then: "No, not really." Kerstin did not wear gloves - not on either hand."

"Now the judge again has the defendant describe how he fastened his girlfriend - and again asks many questions."

"The witness questioning with the investigator continues. "Did you talk to the alpinist again after the rescue?" asks the judge. "On January 20, we had telephone contact - shortly before 8 a.m.," he answers. The Salzburg resident asked the policeman whether his GoPro had been found in the course of the rescue."

""Why can't it be clearly said whether the call at 00.35 a.m. was an emergency call or not?" the judge now asks. "I can't say," answers the investigator, pointing out that the entire operation was "very demanding". They had only concentrated "on the essentials". Then the judge: "If it had been an emergency call, would it have changed anything in the procedure?" The policeman replied: "Yes, it would. For example, we would have given him other advice on how to behave, that he should put the bivy bag on his partner and much more.""

This is the end of Part VI of the reporters comments. continues on next post.

I was going to quote that one section, the description of the position in which the rescue team found her, but you've done an admirable job of relaying the translation, so no need. Thank you.

 

[pol100gk]

Chapeau to the judge. Handled the case extremely well.

 

[planet]

GUILTY
The defendant was found guilty. As charged, he was convicted of grossly negligent homicide. The verdict is a five-month conditional imprisonment, and a fine of 9600 euros was also imposed. Tod am Großglockner: Urteil nach über 13 Stunden

5 months imprsionment seems extremely brief, given the gravity of the outcome and the many, many opportunities in which Thomas could have signalled for rescue sooner. But I am not familiar with Austrian law or sentencing norms.

Perhaps the media publicity will offer pause to future women who consider a domestic, romantic, or climbing partnership with him.

 

[beubeubeu]

Five months means hes gonna walk free before Easter? Or bit after?

I didnt have much faith into any justice system. Now I dont have any.

They swallowed vast majority of his lies after doing outrageously poor investigation. Predictably but still, immensely disappointing.

Three years would be a joke for what he did. Three months is a spit on a grave.
In-my-opinion.

 

[beubeubeu]

Perhaps the media publicity will offer pause to future women who consider a domestic, romantic, or climbing partnership with him.

It wont. Nobody will remember what exactly happened in few weeks not to mention months. He already has people buying that he had to save himself. If prosecutor and a judge in his case mostly bought his &%#@×÷€ there will be women seeing nothing but poor, heartbroken guy who got treated so unfairly.