“I did it, I’m sorry,” says the accused Ali A. to the chairman of his jury, Andreas Böhm. He confesses to having sexually molested and abused at least three young women and a minor girl for a year. As a transport service chauffeur for the victims, whose mental development was not up to standard due to various illnesses. The 57-year-old only denies the prosecutor’s accusation that he also penetrated a woman with his finger on one occasion. With a surprising explanation: “I am an old man. My morals won’t allow it.” – “Doesn’t sound very convincing when you confess to the other,” the judge remarks regarding the moral conflict.
The stateless Afghan-born man, who came to Austria with his family in 2001, already has a court record. In December 2019, he was sentenced by the district court to a fine of 240 euros – because he had sexually harassed a young disabled woman at his former company. The new employer apparently did not ask for either the “criminal record certificate child and youth welfare” or the “criminal record certificate care and support”, as advocate for private parties Elisabeth Wurzinger from the law firm Plaz denounces.
In these special reports, which were introduced in 2014 and 2020 respectively, sexual offences with sentences of less than three months’ imprisonment would also be listed. But that’s not all: As it turns out in the course of the trial, three mothers reported their children’s accusations against A. to the driving service, nothing apparently became of consequence.
The first time the alarm was sounded was already on July 13, 2020. The reaction of the interlocutor at the company, which also works for the Vienna Municipal Social Fund: “The gentleman said I should think about it carefully, they can’t imagine that, as he is a family man with two children,” says a witness. The next mother came forward on April 30, 2021. She was told,
“I can’t imagine such a thing with the bus driver.” There was no response for two days after that. In early May, the company was contacted by the next person concerned. She was told to write and submit “an accurate report”. “After that I never heard anything,” this mother says.
Only a complaint to the police brought the investigation against A. underway, the proceedings against the company have meanwhile been discontinued by the public prosecutor’s office. Representing victims, Wurzinger now wants to prosecute the company according to the law on the responsibility of associations and to obtain money for the victims.
She also wants 2,000 euros per victim from A., who is in principle willing to pay the damages, but is currently unable to do so, as translations show. Presiding judge Böhm is also interested in the previous history: “You arrived in Austria in 2001, you have also worked again and again. Why is this happening now?” he wants to know. “I don’t know why it happened either,” the defendant squirms.
Defence lawyer Rudolf Mayer asks for the report of psychiatric expert Siegfried Schranz to be read out. “He is incredibly embarrassed to talk about it,” Mayer excuses his client. He was more talkative during the examination: his wife did not want to have sexual intercourse with him anymore from 2019, but as a man he needed it every two to three months.
Since the wife had him under surveillance in his free time, he could not visit brothels and had therefore groped his protégés on their breasts and genital area. The expert concluded that A. was sane and had a paedophilic disposition, but was not so dangerous that he had to be institutionalised. The father of four did not see the need for counselling therapy at that time.
The mothers of the victims testified that they noticed changes in their children’s behaviour, some of them still today, and that they were afraid of older men, for example.
For the most serious charge, penetration, the senate ultimately acquits him in case of doubt. For the sexual abuse of minors, however, A. is sentenced to three years’ detention without parole. In addition, he is banned from working with children or mentally handicapped persons after his release. With the words “I thank all of you, the punishment is all right” the accused accepts the sentence, the public prosecutor also agrees, the decision is therefore final.