Four Syrians charged

17-year-old abused instead of providing help

Four men from Syria are released from custody, three are acquitted.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

Up to four Syrians were in the small apartment in Vienna-Simmering when a drug-sick girl (17) from Lower Austria almost died. One of them assaulted the defenceless girl. The 33-year-old did not call the ambulance - because he could not speak German.

A girl from Wiener Neustadt - addicted to drugs, absent from home, completely desperate - meets two adult men from Syria in Vienna at two o'clock in the morning on June 15.

"She is in a very bad way. They pick her up by chance and take her to the apartment," the prosecutor begins. But instead of helping the teenager, three of the four men leave the small 35 square meter accommodation in Geiselbergstraße at around three in the morning. 

The crime scene: an apartment in a prefabricated building in Geiselbergstraße in Simmering(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

Girl's life was in danger
One of them went home, the others went to the mosque near Reumannplatz to pray at night - while the fourth, a 33-year-old who receives 1100 euros a month in benefits in Austria, had his way with the 17-year-old girl, who was completely out of it. "Later, the co-defendants came back. At some point they recognized the dramatic condition of the young woman, thank God."

The fourth defendant called the emergency services, but when they arrived, the victim no longer had a pulse. "It was not clear whether she would survive," the prosecutor describes. During the trial, the main defendant admitted for the first time that the woman had not consented and could not have done so - she was motionless and unresponsive during the abuse. Instead of helping the Lower Austrian woman in her life-threatening condition, he penetrated her.

I was in a drunken state. It was a mistake. No one is immune to mistakes.

Der verurteilte Zweitangeklagte

Rescue not called because he couldn't speak German
"Where did you get this idea?" Judge Danja Petschniker wants to know from the man. "I was drunk. It was a mistake. No one is immune to mistakes," was the depressing answer. "That was an insane mistake," replies Mrs. Rat. "Weren't you worried about her?" The Senate also wants to know why he didn't alert the rescue services straight away? "Because I don't speak German," translates the interpreter.

Franz Pechmann, Andreas Reichenbach and Wolfgang Haas defended the co-defendants (from left).(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

Lawyers Andreas Reichenbach and Wolfgang Haas see the charges against the co-defendants as unjustified. "Yes, they left. But they had no idea what the others were up to," says Reichenbach. The three were acquitted. The main defendant has to serve four and a half years in prison. Not legally binding.