"Wanted to take revenge"

Torture victim (14) charged with attempted murder

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg)

Beaten with an iron bar, humiliated and set on fire: This was the torture a 14-year-old girl had to endure. At the beginning of June, she stabbed a member of the gang of girls who had tortured her in the buttocks in the center of Graz. The public prosecutor's office is now charging her with attempted murder. 

Mila (name changed), who is now 15 years old, has been in custody in Graz-Jakomini prison for almost four months. Because she stabbed a peer in the upper buttocks with a knife on June 3. "It is only thanks to a lucky coincidence that the knife did not hit any large blood vessels or internal organs," writes the Graz public prosecutor's office in its indictment against the girl - for attempted murder. Which, according to the authorities, happened out of revenge.

Beaten, kicked and set on fire
Mila was the victim of unspeakable violence by a gang of girls at the beginning of February: they beat the 14-year-old with an iron bar in a condemned house and kicked her several times. When she was already cowering in a corner with her face covered, they forced Mila to take off her clothes and burned the ends of her hair.

The girls filmed the violence and humiliation against the 14-year-old from several angles.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg)

Tormentors laughed about the beating
"The events were also filmed and the videos were then published on social media platforms," said the public prosecutor's office. Loud laughter can be heard in the background of the videos. Injured and humiliated, the perpetrators finally left their victim in the house - where they had lured Sonja (name changed) beforehand.

My client certainly did not intend to kill. I am confident that this will also be the outcome of the trial.

Anwalt Frank Carlo Gruber verteidigt Mila

Bild: Benjamin Gasser

"As a result of this incident, the accused decided to take revenge on the girl involved." According to the indictment, Mila armed herself with a knife, drove to Jakominiplatz in the center of Graz and searched for her peer. "She wanted her to apologize for the incident," writes the public prosecutor's office. Because Sonja refused, the 15-year-old allegedly stabbed her.

"I wanted to defend myself because she came to me. I didn't want to kill anyone. I wanted to stab the person in the butt. Not in the back", the client of lawyer Frank Carlo Gruber testified to the police. She was desperate and frustrated that even after months, the justice system had done nothing about her tormentors. The beating girls are at large, while Mila will stand trial in Graz on November 14 and faces up to ten years in prison.