Act simply went under

Vienna: How a teacher was able to abuse for years

Symbolic image

(Bild: stock.adobe.com, krone.at-Grafik)

New findings have emerged in the case of a teacher who allegedly abused dozens of pupils in Vienna over a period of years. The alleged assaults could have been prevented if a complaint filed against him with the authorities back in 2013 had not petered out - now the investigation report is available.

The serious allegations are that he was drugged, sexually abused and took masses of photos and video footage. For years, Ronald S. was allegedly able to get up to mischief at a Viennese secondary school, a vacation camp and a sports club. At least 40 underage boys were said to have fallen victim to the teacher.

Symbolic image

(Bild: stock.adobe.com, krone.at-Grafik)

He would not have been summoned for questioning until 2019. But it didn't come to that - the teacher committed suicide after the charges were brought against him.

But that was not the only one: charges had already been brought against the man in 2013 by a victim who has since grown up. The assault is said to have taken place at a vacation camp in 2006; the alleged victim was 13 years old at the time. However, this act of abuse mysteriously disappeared.

Now krone.at has the investigation report on the investigation into the officials responsible at the time. The Federal Office for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption (BAK) wrote the report for the public prosecutor's office.

It contains more than 20 pages of hair-raising statements from those questioned. Reason for investigation: suspicion of abuse of official authority. Because when a victim seeking help from the Wolfgangsee vacation camp contacted the police in July 2013, pretty much everything you can imagine went wrong.

(Bild: P. Huber)

"Mistyped" the victim's name
How did the act of abuse get lost? According to witnesses, the facts of the case were recorded, but the name of the victim was mistyped or the names of the perpetrator and the victim were mixed up, says an insider to the "Krone".

"Please send to ..."
And where did the file end up? To the post office? "It could also be that she simply put a Post-it on the unenveloped file itself with the note "Please send to ..."." However, the mailing destination itself is no longer remembered.

"Difficult story"
These are just a few of the astonishing statements made by the accused officers in the report. Such "runaways" were not uncommon - the crime scene was not in the department's area of responsibility at the time. However, it was clear to the officer at the time that "this was a serious matter" ...

And finally it says: "Due to a lack of further investigative approaches, no further action is planned by the BAK." The investigation has therefore already been closed. In any case, it can be assumed that if the abuse teacher had already been investigated in 2013, countless boys could have been spared the next six years of his life.