In Eisenstadt

13 and 21: Short trial for forbidden love

A friend of the then 13-year-old started the case. The latter didn't seem to care about the trial at all.(Bild: HS, Krone KREATIV)

An adult had a relationship with a 13-year-old girl in 2008. He admits it, she speaks of consensual acts. The statute of limitations is excluded in this case!

When the trial schedule of the Eisenstadt Regional Court reads: "Serious sexual abuse of minors in 2008 by a 37-year-old Austrian citizen", you naturally suspect that you are looking at a monster.

Punishable offense
But at the latest after even the public prosecutor had spoken out in favor of an extraordinary mitigation of the sentence in her opening statement, it was clear that this was going to happen quickly. Why was there a trial at all? "Because the crime was punishable then and is still punishable today. There has to be a verdict."

Sex was consensual
In 2008, the man from Northern Burgenland had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl aged 21 that lasted several months. He admits this. She confirmed on the witness stand that the sexual intercourse had been consensual and that her parents had known about it. He is now married and has a daughter. She wants "the matter to be settled".

Conditional imprisonment
And it is. The 37-year-old is sentenced to three months' conditional imprisonment. The sentence does not appear on his criminal record. "The grounds for mitigation outweigh the sentence," said the chairwoman of the lay assessor's court.