A 44-year-old was in the dock on Wednesday for allegedly raping a ten-year-old boy in a refugee shelter in Graz. Despite clear DNA traces, the Syrian initially denied everything and only made a confession in court. He faces five years in prison.
They lived next to each other in an asylum seeker center in Graz and knew each other well. “I looked at him like my own son until the crime happened,” the suspect even said during the trial on Wednesday. The crime in question concerns an allegation of rape and serious sexual abuse of minors.
The suspect has eight children of his own
In June, the 44-year-old Syrian – himself the father of eight children – is said to have held down and raped a boy from a neighboring apartment in the bathroom after the ten-year-old wanted to borrow a vacuum cleaner from his neighbor. . According to the Public Prosecution Service, attempts had already been made in advance and the boy kept running away. Then, one day in June, the 44-year-old struck.
The victim returned to his own apartment distraught and crying, the brother said on the witness stand. “There are DNA traces that clearly support the victim’s statement,” the prosecutor emphasizes.
“I saw him as a son”
Although the suspect initially denied everything, he confessed at the hearing. “I am guilty, it was a mistake,” said the 44-year-old, who has lived in Austria as an asylum seeker since 2021. “It wasn’t a mistake, it was a crime,” the judge corrected him. As soon as the judge started talking about the specific crime, he avoided it. “Up until then I had almost looked at him as a son,” he said, adding that his first progress was “in the fun area.”
His client’s children and wife are in Turkey, the Syrian’s lawyer explained. “He is a simply structured personality. A flare-up of sexual desire led to a sudden urge to commit an act; it was not a planned act,” the lawyer said.
In connection with this, the judge asked why the suspect did not seek satisfaction other than raping a ten-year-old child. “The devil has confused me,” answers the 44-year-old.
The jury sentenced the man to five years in prison (not final).
Source: Krone
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