A horrible act of domestic violence in a council flat in Leopoldstadt, Vienna’s 2nd district, had tragic consequences on Thursday night. Police said that a 57-year-old man stabbed his wife with a knife, and was then stabbed by his own child in an apartment in Rustenschacherallee in the Prater area.

Police said the woman was hiding from her husband in the living room and had locked the door. He broke down the door and started beating his wife, whilst their son tried to prevent him.

The man then grabbed a knife and stabbed his wife in the head and neck. The boy, who had bravely tried to defend his mother, grabbed another knife and stabbed his father several times in the back.

Mother and son were then able to flee to a neighbour’s apartment and called the police at 7:45 pm. Despite her injuries the 34-year-old woman’s life was not in danger, police said.

Meanwhile the father had run, bleeding, into a car park in front of the apartment block and collapsed there, according to a report in the Kurier newspaper. He was arrested and taken to hospital.

“Doctors were able to stabilize him overnight but he is intensive care,” police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger said.

He added that the police had never been called to the couple’s flat before, and there had been no previous reported incidents of domestic violence.