Atrocity in Vienna

15-year-old wanted to rape his grandmother

An unusual trial involving a 16-year-old Viennese in the "Landl"

(Bild: Krone, Krone KREATIV)

Not an easy statement for a grandmother from Vienna: in the contradictory hearing, the 59-year-old woman had to describe how she almost became the victim of rape. The perpetrator: her grandson, just 15 years old at the time of the crime.

"It is an unusual case that is being heard today," said the public prosecutor at the opening of the attempted rape trial on Thursday at the Vienna Regional Court. "Four months ago, a 15-year-old boy tried to force his maternal grandmother to have oral sex."

Versions of the crime differ
Before her sits a now 16-year-old adolescent who was mainly accommodated in shared flats and whose social behaviour, according to the public prosecutor and expert witness, was disturbed by numerous traumas in childhood.

The course of events: The young Austrian visited his grandmother (59) for the weekend, as he had often done before. On that Saturday in March, he wanted to go out that night, but his grandmother told him not to: "I became aggressive, swore at her and tried to get the key from her in the bedroom," the young man said during the trial.

Iris Augendoppler defends the teenager.

(Bild: Anja Richter)

From here on, the versions diverge. While the grandmother credibly described the attempted rape in the contradictory interrogation, the accused had a different version: "My grandmother always hides her keys either in her bra or in her underpants," he told the judge. That was the reason why he had reached in. The request for oral sex was only said "in aggression".

Two years ago, the boy once lay down in bed with her at night and said: "Do mas?" - "I was shocked and asked him about it the next day," the victim recalls. She said to him: "I'm your grandma. What are you doing?" - but they made up again. Things went well for a while. Before it came to the now incriminated sex attack on March 3.  

Conditional hospitalization pronounced
In the trial, the lay jury believes the grandmother, who suffered clearly visible bruises on her arms that night. She called loudly for help at the window when her grandson briefly went into the living room. The police took the 15-year-old away and he was held in custody until May 28.

The teenager defended by Iris Augendoppler accepts the sentence: 15 months in prison, two of them unconditional. He has already served these in custody. In addition, the senate issues a committal order. However, the boy's placement in the detention center is conditionally suspended, subject to a three-year probationary period and conditions.