Bomb Threat Against Tyrolean School: 14-Year-Old Convicted in Vienna
The student, who lives in the Tyrolean capital, had "ordered" the bomb threat from a 17-year-old Viennese. The boy carried it out on April 24, 2025, with a call to the police emergency number, triggering a major police operation and the evacuation of the school in Innsbruck.
"I wanted a day off from school," the defendant stated in court. She had met the boy online and met him once in person during a visit to Vienna. They stayed in loose contact via Snapchat and apparently came up with the idea of the bomb threat. "We kept talking about it. At first, I wasn't aware of what I was causing," said the girl, who traveled to the trial accompanied by her mother. She said she was "really sorry."
Threatened with plastic explosive Semtex
According to the indictment, the 14-year-old persuaded the three-year-older youth to actually threaten with the plastic explosive Semtex by writing to him on Snapchat, "Can you do it now?" The 17-year-old then dialed the emergency number and, using a distorted, AI-generated voice, stated the exact address of the school, saying that "multiple Semtex explosives" were distributed there: "If you don't hurry up in the next few days, the whole thing will be blown up. You have 48 hours. I repeat, you have 48 hours. You have 48 hours."
"You have set a huge machinery in motion," the judge cautioned the defendant. When asked by the judge if she found the police operation "super," the 14-year-old replied, "Yes, kind of," and admitted to going to the school and "watching."
Diversion was not an option for the judge
Defense attorney Andreas Schweitzer pointed out the almost childlike age of his client: "She is 14 years old. Her synapses are not yet so strongly connected that she was aware of what she triggered." When Schweitzer cautiously suggested a diversionary resolution that would have spared the 14-year-old a criminal record, the judge reacted almost angrily: "No! I am deaf to that." The 14-year-old had done "something very serious," so a diversion was out of the question.
"Were there any consequences at home?" the judge wanted to know from the 14-year-old. "House arrest. Two weeks," the girl replied. "If someone like us had done that, my father would have ripped my head off," the judge told her. In response to the final question of whether she had learned anything from the criminal proceedings, the 14-year-old remarked: "You shouldn't do it if you don't want to go to school. You should just skip and stay home."
In the end, the student was sentenced to six months of suspended imprisonment for incitement to dangerous threat and incitement to feigning a punishable act. After consulting with her defense attorney, she accepted the verdict. The prosecutor also agreed. The decision is thus legally binding. "Go away and never come back. Next time, there will be prison," the judge told the 14-year-old as she left.
Proceedings against 17-year-old to be held separately
The proceedings against the 17-year-old were separated and will be held at a later date. The teenager had unexcused absence from the hearing. At the next appointment, he will presumably be forcibly brought in by the police if he fails to respond to his summons again.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.