30 months

Prison sentence for grandfather who abused granddaughter

Family abysses at Wels Regional Court: A grandfather (70) allegedly sexually abused his then twelve-year-old granddaughter several times. He denied the allegations, statements by the granddaughter and witnesses painted a different picture. Sentence: 30 months imprisonment for the grandfather, ten of them unconditional - not legally binding.

The 70-year-old pensioner from the Hausruckviertel region was accused by his then twelve-year-old granddaughter of touching her in her private parts and performing sexual acts on her the previous year.

Denied everything
The accused denied all accusations in court and insisted that there had never been any sexual contact between the two of them. He only saw her private parts once, when the twelve-year-old girl was playing around on the couch next to him. "She got bored watching TV and when she did a handstand in front of me, I suddenly saw her private parts," said the grandfather, adding that nothing else had happened. Another time, the girl took his hand and pulled it between her legs, but he reacted brashly and wanted his hand pulled away. 

She got bored watching TV and when she did a handstand in front of me, I suddenly saw her private parts.

Der Angeklagte vor Gericht

Difficult circumstances
His granddaughter was placed in a residential group for difficult children and adolescents because she was not in good hands at home - her father, the son of the accused, had printed out poster-sized nude photos of his 14-year-old niece and hung them up in his hometown, for which he had also been convicted and has been in treatment ever since.

False trust
The grandparents, on the other hand, had visited the granddaughter frequently since the incident, taken her on long trips and enjoyed the full trust of the institution. She had also spent a lot of time at home with her grandparents and had often enjoyed watching movies or playing cards with her grandfather. 

Granddaughter traumatized
The mother described the accused incident quite differently: the daughter returned home afterwards and locked herself in the toilet for a long time until she finally came out and wrote and sketched on a piece of paper how and where her grandfather had touched her. 

Prison sentence
The judge and lay assessors ultimately decided that the grandfather was by no means as innocent as he had wanted to believe. The verdict: 30 months in prison for the 70-year-old, ten of them unconditional. The verdict is not yet final - the prosecution and defense did not make a statement.