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CRIME

Taxi driver sentenced for sexual abuse

A Viennese taxi driver on trial for allegedly sexually abusing two teenagers has been accused by a third woman, who recognised him as she sat in on the court proceedings in May. He was sentenced on Wednesday to six years in prison.

Taxi driver sentenced for sexual abuse
Taxi sign. Photo: APA/Hochmuth

A friend of the woman told her that a man was on trial for attacking two young women who had been passengers in his taxi – and as she had been through a similar experience she decided to sit in the public gallery of the courtroom. When she realised it was the same man she filed a complaint with the public prosecutor.

All three women claimed to have been attacked while taking a taxi from the U4 nightclub, after having drunk too much alcohol. The incidents happened in September 2011 and August 2013.

The 59-year-old taxi driver, described as a family man with four children, is accused of having taken advantage of the young women’s intoxicated state. The prosecution says that he forced the girls into sexual acts in the taxi and that they were not in a position to be able to fight him off.

The court found that there was sufficient evidence to enter a guilty plea.  He was sentenced to six years in prison, and has to pay the two victims a total of €18,400 as compensation for pain and suffering.

In addition, there is a third case pending, based on the complaint of the possible additional victim, who recognized the man while he was in court.

Evidence considered by the court included DNA samples, collected from one of the victims soon after the event.  The accused claimed that the 18-year-old girl had consensual sex with him, despite her intoxication.

CRIME

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

Austrian authorities on Friday said they were investigating 17 teenagers - including 12 minors - over the alleged months-long sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl in Vienna last year.

Austria investigates 17 teens for alleged sexual abuse of girl

The alleged offences took place in a disadvantaged area of the capital’s south “between February and June 2023, in toilets, garages, a hotel and in the perpetrators’ homes”, Florian Finda, deputy director of the Vienna police, told a news conference.

The suspects in the rare case – most of whom are aged between 14 and 18 – are of Bulgarian, Italian, Serbian, Syrian and Turkish origin.

Two of them are under 14 and therefore below Austria’s age of criminal responsibility.

The suspects – almost all of whom were known to police for other offences – are accused of serious sexual abuse of a minor, including the pornographic depiction of the abuse of a minor.

Thirteen suspects were questioned on Thursday, with some of them partially denying the allegations.

The suspects and the Austrian victim met through one of the accused, with whom the then 12-year-old is said to have made out with.

She was then introduced to the rest of the group.

The boys allegedly exchanged videos and photos of the abuse via social networks including WhatsApp chats, with one of them allegedly threatening to share the pornographic material.

According to the police, none of the material was made available to the wider public.

In October, the young girl, now 13, informed her mother, who subsequently filed a complaint.

The ongoing investigation is due to be transferred to the public prosecutor’s office.

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