Girl died

Abused 16-year-old: “Can only laugh about it”

The Romanian is brought out of custody. His T-shirt quickly turns out to be self-irony.

(Bild: Bissuti Kristian/Kristian Bissuti, Krone KREATIV)

A 16-year-old girl died of an overdose in his apartment in Vienna-Wieden after he allegedly abused her while she was defenceless. Nevertheless, the 55-year-old Romanian says: "I can only laugh at the accusation here. She agreed to everything we did." The opposite could not be established - acquittal!

"Non-smoker" is emblazoned in large orange letters on the defendant's T-shirt as he enters courtroom 1 at the Vienna Regional Court. However, this does not apply to the 55-year-old, as he answers the judge in a flippant manner and does not want to answer some questions at all. One of his emotional outbursts: "It's something I've been embarrassed about for seven months. And I have to go through it all again."

Death only noticed in the morning
The Romanian is referring to the night of December 9 to 10, 2023 - when he consumed drugs with a 16-year-old girl in his apartment in Vienna-Wieden and allegedly abused her while she was completely impaired. "He sees her lying motionless on her stomach", the public prosecutor explains. The man, who was almost 40 years older, then performed sexual acts on her. The accused apparently only realized on Sunday morning that the girl had died of an overdose.

I can only laugh at the accusation here.

55-jähriger Angeklagter über die Missbrauchsanklage

The public prosecutor's office is charging him with sexual abuse of a defenceless person - according to the investigation, the 55-year-old was not responsible for the 16-year-old's drug-related death. But the Romanian also pleaded not guilty in his abuse trial: "I can only laugh at the accusation here. She agreed to everything we did. She wasn't super impaired," he begins his long and uncooperative statement. 

Accused would have been worried about victim
He recounts how he first met the victim at Westbahnhof, watching her buy drugs: "She was very clean. So she wasn't part of the scene. I mean pretty and unspent, not like the others. I didn't agree with her being so young and taking so many drugs." In the days before the crime, he often took her to his apartment. Because "that's part of the scene", he explained to the presiding judge.

The Romanian is brought out of custody. His T-shirt quickly turns out to be self-irony.

(Bild: Bissuti Kristian/Kristian Bissuti, Krone KREATIV)

The 55-year-old doesn't really want to talk about the sexual acts that took place on Saturday night in early December. In a loud tone, he is merely indignant: "I've never raped anyone in my life. Especially not four times. That's not biologically possible." Then he grumbles on: "I'm helpless myself and try to do the best I can."

Expert opinion cannot confirm defenselessness
Whether the victim was helpless - or more precisely defenceless - at the weekend at the beginning of December is to be assessed by the toxicology report. The list of substances consumed is long and was ultimately fatal for the 16-year-old. Expert witness Günter Gmeiner provides further insights into the girl's last night: a few hours before her death, she consumed cocaine, and later morphine - whether this left her in a defenceless state can neither be confirmed nor denied with certainty.

According to the public prosecutor, however, this was irrelevant. It was a matter of looking at the statements and the expert opinion together. The 55-year-old himself had repeatedly said in police statements that the girl was so impaired that she kept falling asleep. That she was so impaired that she embarrassed him. In his main trial, he dismissed these statements as having been coerced by police officers.

Expert opinion paves the way for acquittal
In the end, however, the evidence was not sufficient for the jury panel to convict him: The Romanian was not legally acquitted of abusing a defenceless person. Although the defendant's actions were "morally highly reprehensible", they were not punishable by law. To the displeasure of the relatives of the deceased who were present. One man leaves the courtroom with the words: "Bastard!" And the mother storms out of the provincial court in disarray.

Already convicted of murder
However, this trial was not a first for the 55-year-old: in Austria alone, the Romanian has seven previous convictions - involuntary manslaughter, assault and property offenses. The man has also been convicted in Germany and served 12 years in prison. And that was for joint murder. He did not want to say any more about this ...