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Rape victim stabs Syrian asylum seeker

A 45-year-old Moroccan asylum seeker has been arrested for attempted murder in Vienna after stabbing a 27-year-old Syrian man who he claims drugged and raped him.

Published: 19 September 2016 16:38 CEST

Rape victim stabs Syrian asylum seeker

Vienna's 16th district, Ottakring. Photo: Michael Kranewitter/Wikimedia

Police are now investigating whether the Moroccan was raped on Sunday in the Ottakring district, as he claims, and if the Syrian man was involved.

The Moroccan is in police custody and the 27-year-old Syrian is in hospital, where he’s being treated for serious injuries.

Both men are asylum seekers who live in accommodation in the Favoriten area. Originally, the 45-year-old told the authorities he was 35 years old and came from Syria. Police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger said it was likely he had lied as he thought he’d have a better chance at being granted asylum if he was believed to be from war-torn Syria.

Keiblinger said the man had refused to go into much detail about his rape ordeal, saying he would save his story for the judge.

He was treated in hospital on Sunday lunchtime for injuries that suggested he had been assaulted. He told doctors he had been raped by two men in Ottakring.

He said he had gone with them to an apartment where they had offered him a glass of lemonade, and shortly after drinking it he began to feel unwell and lost consciousness. He says that this is when the two men raped him.

When he woke up he was in pain and went to a hospital, where doctors contacted the police after hearing his story.

After being released from hospital he went back to his accommodation in Favoriten, and 12 hours later stabbed the Syrian man with a pocket knife in the chest. Witnesses said the men had not fought before the attack, and that the Moroccan had not said anything prior to the stabbing.

Keiblinger said the Syrian had been able to talk to police from his hospital bed, but that he claimed he had no idea why the Moroccan had attacked him and he denied having raped the man.

The Moroccan man’s blood will be tested to see if he was given a date rape drug and police are trying to locate the apartment where he said the assault took place. Other asylum seekers who live in the Favoriten home told police that they believe he has psychological problems.

Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations.

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria.

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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