Trial in Feldkirch

Brutal sexual abuse of the little nephew

Public prosecutor Richard Gschwenter spared the jury no details of the disgusting assaults by the accused.(Bild: Dorn / Krone KREATIV)

The 19-year-old uncle is said to have abused the child at least five times. The man had to answer for his actions at the trial in Feldkirch (Vorarlberg) on Friday.

Sexually abusing your own child - a nightmare. For the family of the now seven-year-old victim and the child herself, this horror has come true. However, it was not a stranger who repeatedly molested the boy, but his 19-year-old uncle! According to the indictment, the previously innocent man is said to have severely sexually abused the nephew a total of five times between January 2020 and the beginning of November 2022. The disgusting assaults are said to have taken place in the accused's parents' home. The victim was only four years old during the first assault!

"The boy had to lie on his back. The accused then covered the child's head with a T-shirt and then performed oral sex on him or masturbated," explained public prosecutor Richard Gschwenter at the public prosecutor's hearing on Friday.

When the child was six years old, the uncle even had anal sex with his nephew. "To distract the victim from the sexual abuse, he gave him a cell phone to play with. But when the boy said that 'it' hurt him, the tormentor just said that he was finished anyway," said the public prosecutor in his plea.

Two weeks after this incident, the six-year-old finally confided in his mother. She did not believe the 19-year-old's version that he had only been caught masturbating by his nephew. The woman presses charges. When asked by the presiding judge, Sabrina Tagwercher, why the victim should invent the accusations, the accused has several explanations ready. "The relationship between the respective families has been difficult since an inheritance story. My aunt has never liked me. She manipulated my nephew and talked him into the abuse. But he has an imaginary friend who he always talks to. I think he experienced the events with his invisible friend."

Prosecutor Gschwenter then recalled the victim's statements at the adversarial hearing: "The child described the events in detail and spoke of a monster under the comforter. You can't make that up when you're six years old!" After a nine-hour hearing, the non-appealable sentence was handed down: 18 months in prison, twelve of which were suspended. The defendant must pay the victim 5,000 euros in partial compensation for pain and suffering. He is also liable for future damages.