Her last hours

The final minutes of the crime against Leonie

13-year-old Leonie died in June 2021.

(Bild: Reinhard Holl, Krone KREATIV)

In June 2021, a 13-year-old girl died in an apartment in Vienna. Three young Afghans are said to have drugged the schoolgirl beforehand and abused her for hours. The Krone now has the final police report on the case.

What actually happened in an apartment in Erzherzog-Karl-Straße in Vienna-Donaustadt on the night of June 26, 2021 will probably never be completely clarified. The accounts of the three young Afghans who are strongly suspected of having committed the horrific crime against 13-year-old Leonie there are too different - and each blames the others.

The background to the atrocity
Extensive investigations by the criminal investigation department into the alleged perpetrators and the victim, as well as the results of numerous forensic findings - according to the final report on the case recently completed by the police - allow only one conclusion to be drawn: the schoolgirl was deliberately drugged and then abused by all the suspects working together. Until she died.

Leonie died at the age of just 13. Her body was found next to a tree.

(Bild: Stefan Steinkogler, zVg, Krone KREATIV)

How did the crime take place, what was her background? How did the girl and her later tormentors come into contact with each other? The key figure is probably Ali H. - 16 according to his claims, but at least 18, possibly even up to 22 years old according to an expert opinion that has since been obtained. He met the Lower Austrian woman in the Prater in May 2021, he said during interrogations. And that he had repeatedly smoked hashish and had sexual relations with her since then: "We loved each other, we were a steady couple."

Lots of lies - and even more contradictions
A lie - as the girl's best friend knows. The young man was "very unsympathetic" to Leonie, she even once "insulted him during a chance encounter in a subway station because he touched her indecently"; however, the 13-year-old sometimes obtained cannabis from him: "But those were rare 'slips'."

One thing is certain: in 2018, the schoolgirl had fallen into "bad circles" and had started taking banned substances. However, her "slip" was recognized early on by her parents, who quickly arranged psychotherapeutic care for their child. This gradually had an effect: the pupil became more sociable again, joined a more harmless clique, increasingly turned away from "scene people" and planned to become completely "clean". This was confirmed by examinations of the victim's hair. They show that Leonie had hardly consumed any addictive substances recently.

The fateful date
Whether the 13-year-old wanted to get some on the night of her death remains a mystery. The only fact is that she arranged to meet Ibraulhaq A. (20) on the evening of June 25. The Afghan, who was unknown to her until then, had contacted her via Instagram and persuaded her to meet him on Danube Island. Ali H. was also there. "Leonie and I drank a bottle of whiskey together," he said after his arrest. And then the four of them - with another Afghan, Zubaidullah R. (20) - went to A.'s apartment: "My girlfriend and I wanted to sleep together there."

The crime scene: an apartment in Vienna-Donaustadt

(Bild: Schiel Andreas)

Once again, Ali H. appears to have told untruths. Close confidants of the schoolgirl explain - in unison - credibly that she had wanted to remain a virgin until she was 16 and had initially "only cuddled a little" with four boys. And that she always wore a "baggy look" - wide pants, sneakers, comfortable hoodies - because of her reserve and shyness.

It is also a fact that the girl - as documented by blood tests - had not consumed any alcohol on the day before her death. But, in the immediate vicinity of her death, she had taken a large amount of ecstasy.

The last hours of the girl's life
Involuntarily, the investigators believe. Once they arrived at A.'s apartment, the three men are believed to have served Leonie a fruit drink with pills dissolved in it. And soon the gang rape of the girl - who had been brought into a defenceless state - is said to have taken place. Wounds on her upper arms indicate that she was held down; injuries to her upper body indicate that one or more people were kneeling on her.

When Leonie fell unconscious, she was given lemon juice. In the end, she suffocated. And: In order to destroy genetic traces of them, the alleged perpetrators washed the victim - before carrying her body outside and laying it next to a tree.

Ali H. is being defended by two top lawyers: Mathias Burger and Astrid Wagner. "Our client is innocent," they both say.

(Bild: Andi Schiel, Gerhard Bartel, Krone KREATIV)

The trial against the three Afghans - Zubaidullah R. fled to England after the crime and was extradited to Austria in March - is due to take place in June. It is still uncertain whether the men will be charged with rape resulting in death and failure to render assistance or murder. What is certain, however, is that they are considered "young adults". Their maximum sentence is therefore 20 years in prison.