Facts
The appellant [X.] is accused of having unlawfully withdrawn funds totaling at least CHF 298,800.-- from the private account of the private plaintiff [A.] at ATMs and used them for his own purposes during the period from February 12, 2007 to July 5, 2011. The private plaintiff, an elderly lady, had allegedly handed over her bank card and the associated code to the appellant for this purpose.
The District Court of Uster convicted the appellant of commercial fraudulent abuse of a data processing system pursuant to Art. 147 para. 1 and 2 of the Swiss Criminal Code (StGB) and sentenced him to 24 months' imprisonment, of which 21 days were credited and the remainder was suspended. Furthermore, he was ordered to pay the private plaintiff compensation of CHF 253,800.--.
On appeal by the appellant as well as the public prosecutor's office and the private plaintiff, the High Court of the Canton of Zurich upheld the first-instance judgment on the issue of guilt, but increased the custodial sentence to 36 months, of which 27 months were suspended. It set the compensation to the private plaintiff at CHF 297,800.--.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appellant's appeal. It considers the factual findings of the lower courts to be non-arbitrary. The appellant had misused the private plaintiff's bank card and the associated code, by withdrawing money beyond the individual authorization granted to him. In doing so, he had deceived the data processing system about his authorization and caused an incorrect data processing operation, which fulfills…