A 16-year-old has been in custody in Vienna since May last year after beating his younger sister until she was admitted to hospital. As emerged during the course of the investigation, the teenager had probably been regularly abusing the 15-year-old for a long time when she disobeyed him.
“He was not happy about his sister going to school,” prosecutor Wolfram Bauer said at the start of the trial. The fact that the 15-year-old was in class with boys further frustrated the defendant.
Was recently in Vienna
The 16-year-old came to Austria in August 2022 in the context of family reunification. His eldest brother, who has lived here legally for several years and is well integrated, brought him from Afghanistan to join the rest of the family in Vienna after the Taliban came to power.
“Lord of the house”
The boy probably did not settle here and had difficulty adapting to Western morals and values. Above all, his image of women was more in line with that of the Taliban than with that of a cosmopolitan society. “He failed to gain a foothold here,” the prosecutor said. The defendant saw himself as the ‘man of the house’ for the entire family: he lived in a household with his mother, sister and two younger brothers, while the older brother had his own apartment.
Regular outbreaks of violence
The prosecutor stated that he especially ‘tyrannized’ his younger sister: ‘When she did not comply with his wishes, violence broke out.’ The 15-year-old and the brothers, aged eleven and thirteen, were regularly beaten.
“He severely abused her.”
The situation escalated completely on May 26 when the 15-year-old refused to serve tea to her brother, who at the time was registered with the AMS as looking for work and was taking a German course. He then punched her in the face several times and kicked her in the head after she fell to the ground. “He severely assaulted her,” the prosecutor said. The 15-year-old suffered a multiple gaping fracture of her nose and required several days of hospital treatment.
Following this incident, the family alerted the police. The 16-year-old was arrested and subsequently taken into custody. It emerged that he had repeatedly extorted money from his mother to buy drugs, threatening her that he would beat his siblings again if she did not give him money.
Difficult childhood
The boy himself may have experienced serious violence in Afghanistan. His father was killed and he was injured in a bomb explosion on the way to school. The Taliban are also said to have kidnapped and abused him, which the 16-year-old did not want to talk about when he was questioned by his lawyer Anita Schattner during the trial: “I don’t want to remember these scenes.”
The boy largely confessed to the accusations – the indictment accused him of intentional grievous bodily harm, persistent violence, multiple serious coercion and dangerous threats, as well as blackmail: “I didn’t do anything good. I regret it. It’s my fault, I know that I.” However, he denied that his sister’s presence at school would have been a problem for him. He assured that he would “do nothing more” in the future. I’ve seen what it’s like in prison.”
“I took medication”
When asked why he let his sister ‘serve’ him and why he hit her repeatedly, the youngster replied: ‘At that time I was dependent. I’ve been on medication. I couldn’t think clearly. But I didn’t do anything with my brothers.’
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
