Seventeen teenagers are suspected of having sexually assaulted a twelve-year-old girl
“several times a week for several months”
in Austria, while filming or photographing their actions, police announced on Friday.
The events took place in a disadvantaged neighborhood in the south of Vienna
“between February and June 2023, in stairs, toilets, a garage, at the hotel or at the home of the perpetrators
,” a police official told the press. , Florian Finda.
The suspects, most of them minors, are of Syrian, Turkish, Italian, Bulgarian and Serbian origin.
Two of them are under 14 years old and are not criminally responsible.
Almost all known to the police for other crimes, they are accused of various sexual offenses and of producing images of sexual assault on a minor.
Thirteen of them were heard on Thursday and partially deny the facts.
Videos on social networks
The defendants and the victim, of Austrian nationality, had met through one of the teenagers, with whom the young girl first exchanged caresses.
She then came into contact with the other boys.
They shared videos of the acts committed via social networks, one of them being suspected of having threatened to broadcast images if the victim refused him.
But, according to the police, none was distributed on the internet.
For fear of reprisals, the young girl kept silent before finally confiding in October to her mother, who immediately filed a complaint.
His protection is assured, according to the police.
The investigation must be transferred to the public prosecutor's office, which will be responsible for shedding light on this case, which is extremely rare in this country where the crime rate is low.