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CRIME

Judge baffled by ‘fake abortion’ trial

A 49-year-old woman who was accused by an ex-boyfriend of having faked an abortion in order to get money from him has been acquitted after a judge at Vienna’s Regional Court said he had no idea who was telling the truth.

Judge baffled by 'fake abortion' trial
Judge Georg Olschak had "no idea". Photo: APA/Punz

The defendant said she had got to know the man in 2011 and they had fallen in love. She said he had wanted to have a child but when she did become pregnant he changed his mind. “Suddenly his mother said he shouldn’t be having a child,” a witness and close friend of the woman told the judge.

The 49-year-old woman said she flew to London to have an abortion at a special clinic and that the man said he would cover the costs – which came to €3,350.  

However, once the relationship ended the man said he began to have doubts that the woman had actually been pregnant and had an abortion. He said the hospital bill which she gave him had no invoice number and spelling errors – and that the doctor who allegedly performed the abortion wasn’t known of at the clinic. He believes that his ex forged the bill, and filed a complaint against her.

The woman swore that she did have an abortion, and said she was forced to after her ex threatened her. However, her description of events also cast some doubt on her testimony as the airline she claimed she flew to London with wasn’t operating any flights from Vienna on the day that she said she flew out. When confronted by the judge she said that she had actually flown with British Airways and had got confused.

A psychiatrist who treated her three times a week, after the abortion, testified that she suffered from “depression and post-traumatic stress disorder” which he was convinced was caused by her experience. “The images haunted her, and these are things that she could not have invented,” he said.

Judge Georg Olschak summed up by saying that he was not going to charge the woman as he had “no idea” what had really happened.

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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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