A 59-year-old man is alleged to have sexually abused three boys in a children’s and youth home in Lower Austria between January and July of the previous year. The youngest victim was 12 years old at the time of the crime. He was sentenced to five years in prison by the court in St. Pölten.
The charges are sexual abuse of defenseless or mentally disabled people, serious sexual abuse of minors and abuse of a relationship of authority. In court in St. Pölten, the 59-year-old partially admitted the charges. According to the lawyer, the suspect was responsible for the ‘hardship cases’ in his role as an educator in the children’s and youth home.
“My client received a lot of praise from his employer. “He managed to build a connection with the most difficult young people,” the lawyer said in his opening statement.
Trust relationship exploited
The German-born worked as a social worker in the children’s and youth home. The attacks are said to have taken place during this period. “The suspect abused the trust between the boys,” the prosecutor said at the start of the trial. Namely in its role as intensive care for minors between the ages of 12 and 17. According to the prosecutor, since the oldest victim suffers from an autism disorder, the crimes are “all the more reprehensible” because sexual acts cannot be classified in this case. Another victim has an intellectual disability.
Specifically, the suspect allegedly sexually assaulted the twelve-year-old during a nighttime visit after going to the sauna together. On official orders, the 59-year-old tried to treat the youngster, who was disabled by autism, for his ‘douchephobia’.
Pleaded guilty to charges
After the 17-year-old seriously neglected his personal hygiene, showering together became the order of the day. “As an educator, he had the task of monitoring or even actively carrying out personal hygiene,” his lawyer explains. The defendant pleaded not guilty on this count because there was no “objective sexual reference.”
According to the lawyer, the man has made a “comprehensive and remorseful confession” about the allegations against the twelve-year-old. The suspect denied the allegations against the 16-year-old. The young person was no longer in the home after 2019 and therefore there was no longer a relationship of authority in 2023.
The verdict is not yet final
In court, the 59-year-old appeared calm and withdrawn. At the beginning of the afternoon the verdict was delivered: the German was sentenced to five years in prison (with a possible sentence of up to ten years). The representative of the private parties demanded 7,000 euros in compensation for the three victims. Each of them received 3,000 euros. The social worker was also prohibited from working for an indefinite period at institutions or associations active in the education or training of young people.
Source: Krone
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