Actress accused

Dispute sparked over butt bite in Manker’s “Alma”

Paulus Manker defends himself against the suspicion that he is behind the allegations against his former "alma" in the production at Semmering.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz, orf.at)

Former "Alma" actress Anna F. has been charged with "assault" and "sexual harassment". The assaults are alleged to have happened on a partner during the performance at the Südbahnhotel on August 4, 2023. The accused actress suspects director Paulus Manker is behind it, but he wants "nothing whatsoever" to do with it.

As the "Krone" reported, the Wiener Neustadt public prosecutor's office has filed a criminal complaint against actress Anna F. (not the singer, editor's note). The ex-"Alma" actress will have to answer for "assault" and "sexual harassment" in the district court of Neunkirchen on May 6 - threatened with a prison sentence of up to one year.

Manker is called as a witness in the trial
The allegations relate to the performance on August 4, 2023, before which a police operation took place at the Südbahnhotel in Semmering (Lower Austria). At the time, the hotel owner hired security guards to prevent the audience from entering. According to the prosecutor, Anna F. allegedly pushed a burning torch into the face of a colleague during the performance. She is also alleged to have bitten him on the bottom during a bed scene, thereby injuring and sexually harassing him.

The biting accusation

Excerpt from the criminal complaint filed by the Wiener Neustadt public prosecutor's office against Anna F.:

... B./ violated his dignity by intensively touching a part of his body that could be classified as sexual.

Ms. F. told the "Krone" newspaper that she suspected that Paulus Manker had retaliated. In a TV documentary, she had accused the director of abusing his power, and in spring 2024, the two of them faced each other as opponents in a civil lawsuit.

It is absurd to believe that I could initiate a prosecution by the public prosecutor's office without being involved in the slightest.

„Alma“-Regisseur Paulus Manker zur „Krone“

Bild: Vienna Press / Andreas TISCHLER

"A lack of taste"
The pugnacious 66-year-old has now been summoned as a witness. He is not prepared to accept the suspicions expressed: "It is absurd to believe that I could initiate a prosecution by the public prosecutor's office without being involved in the slightest." The injury with the torch was "fully intentional".

All those involved, including the victim, say that the bite has always taken place in the scene, even before and after August 4.

Anwalt Manfred Ainedter vertritt Anna F.

Bild: Gerhard Bartel

And that the bite to the buttocks was not part of his staging: "You don't seriously believe that I would tell actors to do something so tasteless and that an actor would put up with such serious bodily harm without defending himself." - "Everyone involved, including the victim, says that the bite always took place in the scene, even before and after August 4," replies Manfred Ainedter, the actress's lawyer.

Charges only filed a year after the performance
It is astonishing that the acting partner only pressed charges a year later. And: according to Ainedter, Manker is said to have proactively written to several media representatives to inform them of the criminal complaint and the court hearing.