Witness Testifies About Youth Gang

“It’s unbelievable how they’re behaving in court”

An incident at Vösendorf Castle brought a gang of juveniles in Vienna before the judge.(Bild: Krone-Collage/stock.adobe.com null, P. Huber)

A man is beaten and choked by a group of boys, some of whom are minors, in the Vösendorf Castle Park. The reason: He had told one of the youths that he should urinate by the bush instead of against the castle wall. After the disturbing juvenile trial in Vienna, a witness loses her temper.

A young teacher and mother of two can’t get the horrific scenes she and her companion witnessed in May at Vösendorf Castle Park out of her head. She was walking near the castle with an acquaintance that day when they noticed a boy across the way urinating against the wall. “You could do that behind a bush,” her companion said to the teenager.

Twelve-Year-Old with a Knuckle Duster
The situation escalated rapidly. Suddenly, five boys—two of whom were minors—appeared and severely beat and choked the physical therapist “until his face turned blue.” Among other injuries, he suffered broken ribs. “The 12-year-old, who could not be charged, even had a knuckle duster with him,” the witness recalled after the court hearing, which left her stunned.

That’s because a good dozen friends of the accused Syrians and Slovaks—who looked like children—showed up and behaved extremely disrespectfully at the Vienna Regional Court. A boy who looked about ten was sitting on the steps leading up to the court, smoking. Inside, one insolent remark followed another. “It’s unbelievable how they behaved. The public needs to know what’s happening in our society. They spoke to me and signaled to another witness that she should keep her mouth shut.”

After giving her testimony, the woman had to be escorted out through a side exit by officers. The 15-year-old main defendant, meanwhile, was sentenced to three years in prison, though the verdict is not yet final. A second juvenile offender also received an unconditional prison sentence, while a third got off with a one-year suspended sentence.