No remorse in court

E-scooter gang held gun to woman’s temple

Due to the pixelation, it is not recognizable that the defendant is laughing in the foreground.

(Bild: Bartel Gerhard)

Three teenagers were on the lookout for victims on their e-scooters in Simmering. They circled pedestrians, threatening them with a blank-firing pistol, knives and garden shears. On Thursday, the trio will have to answer for aggravated robbery before a lay jury in Vienna's regional court. What the young defendants regret most is that they were caught.

Scenes of a crime committed by young people in Vienna: On October 7 at around 11 p.m., three boys mask themselves with ski caps and scarves, pack a blank gun, switchblade knife, folding knife and garden shears and get on three e-scooters. "We just took people we saw," says the 18-year-old first defendant to Judge Daniela Zwangsleitner.

A shot was also fired
They overtook and circled their victims with the electric vehicles and threatened to kill them at gunpoint. They stole money, an ATM card, cigarettes etc. - their first victim in Simmering was a young woman who was on her way home. The first defendant held the pistol directly to her temple during the aggravated robbery. The others pointed knives and garden shears at her. The 18-year-old also shot in the air once.

The trio robbed their victims with electric scooters.

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

 "Have you thought about what you did to this young woman? How frightened she must have been? You'd be scared to death", even the experienced juvenile court judge is amazed at the brutality of the three perpetrators. Two of them are still minors. All three were born in Vienna, two of them have a Turkish passport. The second defendant is Austrian, has lived in the capital for 17 years, but still speaks very poor German. He mainly answers in monosyllables with a bored "yes".

The detention was a salutary shock for my client.

Strafverteidiger Roland Friis

Bild: Peter Tomschi

Police officer rammed and injured
"What would you have done with the money if you hadn't been caught by the police?" asks Zwangsleitner. "Bought drugs," is the answer. All three claim to have been addicted to drugs for several years. They had also taken "benzos" in tablet form on the evening of the crime. "Young people in Vienna are now massively involved in drug abuse. They take everything and everything mixed," said the lawyer for the first defendant. He also has to answer for resisting public authority and grievous bodily harm. When the police confronted the e-scooter gang, he raced towards a police officer on his scooter, ramming into him and injuring him.

"Being remanded in custody was a healing shock for my client," explains defense lawyer Roland Friis, who is representing the third accused 17-year-old, who is attending the trial in a black suit. He sentenced him to the lightest sentence of 17 months, partially suspended.

"Isn't that shabby?"
Ms. Rat doesn't buy his accomplices' remorse. "We thought it would work," the boys say, primarily annoyed that they were caught. "Isn't that shabby?" asks Zwangsleitner. The accused looks down. The 16-year-old at the time of the crime is sentenced to 18 months in prison, half a year of which is fixed. The alleged main offender has to serve two years in prison. Not legally binding.