Man (54) charged with abuse – drug death of 16-year-old

As the police investigation revealed, the 16-year-old died as a result of her drug use. During the autopsy, traces of morphine, cocaine, methamphetamine and benzodiazepines were found in her body. The girl, who came from an extremely broken family background and was placed in out-of-home placement, must have been used to various substances for a long time. She was also known to the police. At the age of 15, she was convicted of theft.

54-year-old has multiple previous convictions
However, the 54-year-old has seven previous convictions in Austria. In the 1990s, the Romanian was sentenced to a long prison term in Germany for municipal murder. Recently he lived in black in an acquaintance’s apartment in Vienna. In connection with the girl’s death, the investigation by the Public Prosecution Service could not prove that he was (partly) responsible. “He did not drug her,” Nina Bussek, spokeswoman for the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, said when asked.

Observed buying drugs
The man had met the 16-year-old in Margaretengurtel a few days before her death when he saw her given narcotics. He talked to her and talked to her. When he met her again on December 8 at the Westbahnhof, he immediately recognized her and took her to his accommodation. It was probably not just about drugs, but also about sex, although the man claims that initially it was just about “cuddling”.

Investigation revealed that the girl spent the night of December 9 in the apartment and was so under the influence of various substances that, according to the defendant, she felt “embarrassed” in the presence of his two roommates. She also allegedly consumed cocaine she had purchased herself and injected herself with Substitol in someone else’s apartment. According to the complaint, the two left the apartment again on December 9 to get more drugs.

Stayed in the apartment several times
After returning, the youngster spent the night in the strange apartment for the second time. According to the suspect, an agreement was made to perform certain sexual acts for payment. He also claims that he assumed that the girl was no longer a minor, but older than 18 years old. Because of this and because the opposite could not be proven, the man was not charged with sexual abuse of young people – paid sexual contact with people under the age of 18 is in fact prohibited.

Accusation: drug abuse
After the young person had fallen into a twilight state due to the addictive substances she had consumed and had possibly already been unconscious, he allegedly had unprotected sexual intercourse with her several times, which was not covered by the original agreement. most recently in the early morning hours of December 10. As per his responsibility, he assumed she was asleep. In order not to wake her, he left the room and then the apartment after waking up in the morning. Only when he returned did he notice that the 16-year-old was no longer showing signs of life. The 54-year-old alerted the police. All help came too late for the girl. She was found half-dressed and lying on her stomach on a sofa bed.

In his police interview, the man stated that the sexual acts took place with mutual consent. He has been in pre-trial detention for six months because of the risk of absconding. If the 54-year-old is found guilty, he faces a prison sentence of one to ten years.