Victim Brutally Injured

Scooter Gang: “I thought we were going to die!”

The idyllic Oberlaa Spa Park in Favoriten has now become the scene of a particularly brutal attack. Josef and Verena H. remain deeply shaken: “We’re afraid and no longer feel safe here.”(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Zwefo, zVg.)

A married couple was attacked and seriously injured by three teenagers in the Oberlaa Spa Park in Favoriten. In an interview with the “Krone,” they describe those terrifying minutes and are now demanding that action be taken.

The Oberlaa Spa Park is one of the city’s most popular recreational areas. For a married couple from Favoriten, the idyllic setting turned into a nightmare within seconds on Friday evening—one they’ll likely never forget. At the park’s north entrance, on Filmteichstraße, Josef and Verena H. encountered three teenagers on e-scooters. What happened next defies belief.

The teenage perpetrators arrived on e-scooters and attacked out of nowhere.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg.)

“I just pointed out that riding in the park is prohibited. Then I suddenly got hit from behind and was immediately knocked to the ground. All three of them beat and kicked me,” Josef H. described the brutal attack in an interview with the “Krone.” The violence didn’t stop there—on the contrary.

Again and again, they kicked their victim
The youths repeatedly kicked the man, who lay defenseless on the asphalt, with full force. Every kick could have been his last. His partner had to watch helplessly as her husband was beaten.

The wounds from the attack are clearly visible on Josef H.(Bild: zur Verfügung gestellt)

When the 50-year-old tries to intervene, the brutal scooter gang loses all restraint. She, too, now becomes a victim of the attack. A violent shove sends Verena H. flying backward; her glasses shatter. The three young men repeatedly beat the couple. They finally manage to escape using the man’s cell phone. The shock still runs deep: “I thought that was it, that we were going to die,” says Verena H., trembling as she speaks. Both are taken to a hospital with serious injuries. The list of injuries is long: a concussion, bruised ribs, a swollen ankle, and scrapes.

The three suspects were arrested that same night not far from Wienerberg. The stolen cell phone was discovered shortly afterward—located via an app—in some bushes. The alleged perpetrators are two 15-year-olds and a 17-year-old—some of whom are already known to the authorities. One of the 15-year-olds is Austrian. According to the Vienna Police, the nationalities of the other two are still unclear. Despite the serious allegations of violence, they were merely charged—on the orders of the district attorney’s office—with suspicion of aggravated assault, property damage, and theft, and released without detention. “That’s the worst thing for us. That can’t be right,” Verena H. says, shaking her head. For the Freedom Party, this is a dangerous warning sign.

The fact that teenagers are walking around freely on the very same day after committing serious crimes poses a danger to the public.

Stadtrat Stefan Berger (FPÖ)

Bild: FPÖ Wien

“Rampant juvenile crime is becoming an increasingly serious threat to the people of Vienna. The brutal attack on Filmteichstraße, in which a married couple was surrounded, beaten, and robbed by youths, is further alarming evidence of this. The fact that juveniles are walking around freely again on the very same day after committing serious crimes poses a danger to the public,” says FPÖ City Councilor Stefan Berger, who is now calling for action. District Chairman Marcus Franz (SPÖ) is also deeply concerned and is calling for immediate, increased police patrols in the Laaerberg area.