Escort girl sentenced

Escort girl stabbed suitor in the back

The young German woman in court in Vienna.

(Bild: Martin Jöchl, Krone KREATIV)

At one point, the 23-year-old invited the older man to her apartment because they got on well in private. In the other, the escort girl stabbed him four times in the back with a folding knife. "Because he called me a deranged bitch," the young woman explained in the dock at the Vienna Regional Court. She now faces a non-appealable four years in prison.

Young, petite and pretty - that's how the defendant in Vienna's regional court can be described. The 23-year-old German has been in the Austrian capital since November 2022. And works here as escort girl "Sarah". This is also how she met a 35-year-old man. 

Knife rammed into his back after sex
After the programmer had used the young woman's services, and not for the first time, she invited him to her apartment on October 26, 2023. "They also got on quite well in private," explains the public prosecutor. Until the mood changed after a conversation about the 23-year-old's ex-boyfriend - and she suddenly stabbed him four times in the back with a jackknife. 

I didn't attack him for no reason, but because he called me a deranged bitch.

Angeklagtes Escort-Girl im Wiener Landesgericht

"I didn't attack him for no reason, but because he called me a deranged bitch," Sarah explains to the judge. She had just wanted to push him from behind, forgetting that she had an outstretched knife in her hand - "That's when I caught him." Ms. Rat wants to know why she had such a weapon in her handbag in the first place. "I've always had it with me since I was 15. I've always watched Criminal Minds. That show made me a bit paranoid. I suspected a serial killer around every corner."

 "When I see a knife, it still weighs on me"
The three other stabs were purely self-defense, both the accused and her defense claim. "The fact that she stabbed someone is objective. She also admits that. But no, she certainly didn't want to kill him. She stabbed him because she was afraid," argues lawyer Andreas Schweitzer against the attempted murder charge. After the first "accidental" injury, it was the suitor who wrestled the 23-year-old to the ground and hit her at least seven times in the face. 

Lawyers Sebastian Lesigang (left) and Andreas Schweitzer defend the 23-year-old German woman.

(Bild: Martin Jöchl)

"I'm often aggressive when I'm drunk and people are aggressive towards me", the young German admits. "But I really thought he was going to bash my head in." This is in complete contrast to the statement of the 35-year-old, who only wanted to be questioned in the absence of the escort girl: he was still afraid of her. "When I see a knife, it still affects me."

I was on top of her and realized that my back was warm and I was bleeding. And she stabbed me again.

35-Jähriger erinnert sich an die Tatnacht zurück

He describes the attack in the apartment in Vienna-Favoriten very differently: "She pushed me and said I was like her ex. Then she started hitting me. Suddenly I saw the knife. Then we fell to the floor. I was on top of her and realized that my back was warm and I was bleeding. And she stabbed me again." And even when he turned away, the 23-year-old continued to attack him from behind. "Look, I can kill you", she is said to have shouted at him. In pure defense, the victim fought back against the young woman with his fists. 

Accused still raging days after arrest
Sarah's behavior with the police after her arrest also shows what she is capable of. She fought the officers tooth and nail, injuring some of them in the process. Two days later in her cell, she was still rioting and attacking prison officers. She could not even be brought before the detention and legal protection judge; the decision on her pre-trial detention was made through the food hatch to her cell. 

Four years in prison for escort
However, a psychiatric report confirms that the 23-year-old is sane. The conditions for placement in a forensic therapeutic center are not met. Defense attorneys Andreas Schweitzer and Sebastian Lesigang asked the jury to be lenient: "What she did here was simply exaggerated. An exaggerated act of self-defense."

The jurors see it differently, but they cannot find attempted murder either. They classify the four stab wounds as intentional grievous bodily harm. The escort girl is sentenced to four years in prison - which she accepts immediately. The public prosecutor takes some time to think about it. Who doesn't need that is the 35-year-old. It's clear to him: "I'm certainly not going back to a red light bar."