Glued victim's mouth shut

Man (60) abused eight-year-old girl on Danube Island

The Vienna Regional Court

(Bild: APA/HANS PUNZ)

An appalling case of child abuse was heard at the Vienna Provincial Court on Friday. A 60-year-old man was convicted of luring an eight-year-old away from a group of children on Danube Island and abusing her in a bush, filming the assault with a so-called action cam.

He was sentenced to a total of four years in prison for sexual abuse of a minor and possession of child abuse images. The abuse had already taken place eleven years ago. On July 15, 2013, summer camp counselors took a group of 40 children to a popular water playground on Danube Island.

Abused in front of the camera
The accused is believed to have been hanging around there looking for potential victims. He finally approached an eight-year-old girl and asked her if she had already seen the little ducks. When the girl said no, he lured her away from the group into a bush. There he took off her swimsuit, filmed her exposed body and carried out abusive acts while the camera was running.

"Screamed for help"
"She started to cry and screamed for help. Then he taped her mouth shut with adhesive tape," the public prosecutor told a panel of lay assessors (chair: Andreas Böhm). Only after he had switched off the camera did the man remove the gag and let the girl go, who ran to the care team and reported what had just happened. Despite an immediate manhunt, the perpetrator managed to escape.

She started to cry and screamed for help. He then covered her mouth with tape.

Staatsanwältin schildert Tat vor dem Schöffensenat

Only caught after more than ten years
The child abuser was tracked down more than ten years later, when a search was carried out at the defendant's home last fall. He had been caught running a cannabis plantation. The man with several previous convictions - he had served 17 years for attempted murder in Stein prison - was arrested under the Narcotics Act. In addition to cannabis plants, a number of electronic devices, data carriers and the action cam were seized during the house search. The original recording of the abuse on Danube Island and a copy were found on the camera and on an external hard disk.

The analysis of the other seized storage media also revealed 245,000 image files and 1700 videos with abuse material of children. When confronted with this, the defendant claimed in court that he had been "transferred" this collection from other prisoners in Stein correctional institution.

"Certain inclination"
"I was on cocaine and alcohol. That should not be an excuse," he said. He had "somehow got into conversation with her", then "superficial touching" had happened, he claimed. He no longer knew "exactly how I did it". When asked whether his sexual desire was directed towards children, he replied: "There was a certain inclination after his imprisonment, that's true." He had taped up the girl's mouth "in a panic reaction because she was screaming".

The man had been conditionally released from prison at the end of May 2013, just six weeks before the abuse. This long imprisonment was based on the facts of the case, which the presiding judge briefly discussed: the man had broken into a house at night, tied up a six-year-old with a cable, taped up the boy's mouth and then stabbed his father with predatory intent.

60-year-old is committed to prison
In the end, the defendant was sentenced to a total of four years' imprisonment, taking into account a conviction a few weeks ago for operating the cannabis plantation, for which he had served two years. In addition, the 60-year-old was committed to a forensic therapy center because the court psychiatrist consulted certified that he was highly dangerous. The 60-year-old did not accept the latter and therefore did not accept the sentence. The verdict is therefore not legally binding.

6000 euros for the victim
According to her legal representative, the now 19-year-old victim of the child molester is "not doing well". The court awarded the young woman, who had joined the proceedings as a private party, an amount of 6000 euros for the mental pain she suffered.