The victim was twelve years old at the time. The ex-boyfriend will have to answer in court on March 20, as he is accused of having consensual sex with the girl repeatedly from September 2023 until early 2024, when the relationship ended.

The spokeswoman for the regional court, Christina Salzborn, confirmed the trial date to the APA on Thursday afternoon. The boy is said to have committed a criminal offense because he knew that the girl was not yet 14 years old and therefore should not have become intimate with her. The first sexual encounter is said to have occurred on the girl's 13th birthday. Although it can be considered certain that the teenager did not pressure the girl and there was no aspect of violence involved - the Southern Criminal Investigation Department conducted extensive investigations in the case - the public prosecutor's office assumes that due to the age difference between the two, the formal legal criteria for the offense of serious sexual abuse of minors are met.

Vienna: Attempted Coercion Also Indicted Alongside Abuse

The now 18-year-old defendant has not yet commented on the allegations. In addition to the abuse offense, he is also accused of attempted coercion. He allegedly threatened to forward or make public images of sexual acts after the end of the relationship to get back a ring he had given her. During the investigations, 15 files were also discovered on the boy's phone showing underage boys and girls performing sexual acts. Therefore, he is also charged with possession of child sexual abuse material.

The case of the now 14-year-old caused a media stir last year and has since occupied the public. The Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office is still investigating a group of about a dozen underage boys who allegedly met the girl in Antonspark in Favoriten and subsequently abused her. "This procedure is still pending," confirmed authority spokeswoman Nina Bussek to the APA on Thursday afternoon. The accused are said to have abused the girl in stairwells, parking decks, underground garages, and a hotel room.

Two Originally Suspected of Rape Acquitted with Finality

Two individuals originally suspected of rape have recently been acquitted with finality in separate proceedings. In early December, a jury at the regional court concluded that there had been "completely consensual" sex and no violence, as emphasized in the reasoning. It was stated that it was "not recognizable" to the teenager that the girl did not agree to the intercourse. In early January, a 17-year-old was acquitted based on the principle of doubt. "He could assume that she did it voluntarily," the presiding judge stated in this case. Although the girl may have had "an internal rejection," it was "not proven that this was recognizable to the defendant." Furthermore, it was "not ascertainable" that violence had been used, the judge emphasized.

Subsequently, a shitstorm erupted on the platform X (formerly Twitter) over the court decision and the judge, who was personally attacked and became the target of "hate on the net." For Friedrich Forsthuber, the president of the regional court, "red lines were crossed in multiple respects," as he emphasized in response to the events. When a judge is personally attacked for personal or even political motives with quotes taken out of the overall context of the judgment announcement, "the foundations of our democratic constitutional state are endangered," Forsthuber warned.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.