A traumatized girl in Austria jumped out of a window after she was picked up by a social worker who looked like a Satanist.
The previous group home for children with behavioral issues where the 12-year-old girl lived was closed down by Vienna’s Child and Youth Welfare agency (MA 11) due to complaints. The children from this facility were supposed to be transferred to a new group home operated by the private nonprofit organization Homebase. Homebase director Gawain Walter was one of the social workers who picked the girl up.
‼️🇦🇹 Sexually abused 12y.o. girl jumps out of a window to escape "Pedagogical Managing Director" at a private youth welfare organization in Vienna — Kronen Zeitung
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) July 26, 2026
The girl had developed an acute, paralyzing phobia of men before being scheduled for transfer into the care of the… pic.twitter.com/jkzDkrJwAt
The case turned into a political scandal when the girl jumped out of a window and broke several bones shortly after meeting Walter. The 12-year-old girl from Tyrol is considered traumatized due to suspected severe experiences of abuse. According to Pro Child Vienna, the organization that ran her previous group home, she reacts very negatively to men and therefore should not be cared for by male social workers.
However, the guidelines were not followed when the girl was to be picked up from there and taken to a new shared living arrangement, criticized Sabine Keri, the youth spokesperson of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) in Vienna. Keri was given a written account of the incident and said, “It had been made very clear that the girl was not to be picked up by a man. And then a man shows up and exerts pressure.”
Moreover, the Homebase director’s physical appearance is said to have scared the girl, as he has several face tattoos, including a Pentagram on his forehead. The man also frequently wears small black horns on his head that can be screwed on and off, as can be seen in his portrait on Homebase’s official website.
“To me, that’s a satanic look. And I can’t very well let someone who looks like that work with severely traumatized children,” Keri said.
Walter responded to the accusations and said they were defamatory, insisting that he is not a Satanist. He said he was not wearing the small horns on his head when he picked up the children.
Vienna’s MA 11 agency defended giving the children to Homebase despite the physical appearance of its director. The social worker’s appearance could have advantages, MA 11 spokesperson Ingrid Pöschmann said, “namely to show the children: ‘Look, I’m different, you are too, and I’m giving you a place in society here.’ These are children who have learned that they are not accepted just as they are. It’s a very individual approach, a very creative approach.”
The 12-year-old jumped out of the unlocked window when no one was watching. City Councilwoman Bettina Emmerling is having the incident investigated. However, she claims there is no evidence so far that the girl jumped out of fear of the social worker.
According to Emmerling, the man with the Satanic appearance and a female caregiver had already spoken with the girl the day before the incident. The councilwoman argued that being scared by his appearance was not the reason for the jump but rather that the child did not want to change her place of residence or her care arrangement. In addition, the girl had also been with a male caregiver in the shared apartment before the incident, Emmerling said in an interview.
The Pro Child facility — which was shut down by MA 11 — may bear some or primary responsibility for the jump, Emmerling argued.
“The fact that this window was not locked is something that is not permitted in shared living arrangements,” she said. “The window can be tilted open, but in principle, when a child is alone in a room” the windows must be locked.
It remains unclear to the city councilwoman whether — and how clearly — it was actually communicated that the girl was not to be picked up by a man, Emmerling said.
The girl has reportedly recovered from the fall and is now in a new group home in Vienna. Reports did not specify whether it is at a Homebase facility or somewhere else.
Another source of political debate in this case is the fact that the head of Homebase, who picked up the girl, is the son of a top staff representative at MA 11. The ÖVP and the Freedom Party sharply criticized this, as contracts awarded to Homebase by the MA 11 have recently increased significantly.
Emmerling defended the arrangement. “The fact that this family relationship exists was disclosed from the very beginning,” she said in an interview. The father of the Homebase director had no authority and no part in the decision-making of who gets awarded contracts by the agency, she said.