There are new findings in the case of the alleged gang rape of an 18-year-old girl in the course of a house party in Innsbruck. The hospital made a photo documentation. The accused did not confess. Now they have been remanded in custody.
A gang rape of an 18-year-old Tyrolean woman is reported to have taken place at the end of April during a party in an Innsbruck flat. The ordeal can be seen on mobile phone videos. Four suspected men – around 20 years old, with Arabic first names and Austrian citizenship – were arrested six days later. The Innsbruck Public Prosecutor’s Office’s application for detention pending trial was, however, rejected by the Innsbruck Regional Court. As a result, the suspects were released.
Now there are new findings. The public prosecutor’s office appealed against the decision of the Regional Court, the Higher Regional Court upheld the appeal at the beginning of June and imposed remand in custody on the suspects. Since then they have been in the prison “Ziegelstadl”.
They are strongly suspected of having abused the Tyrolean woman who, according to a forensic medical report, had between 1.47 and 1.61 per mille of alcohol in her blood, was under the influence of cocaine and crack cocaine, had a “profound disturbance of consciousness”, was defenceless and unable to realise what had happened. They allegedly recognised her condition and took advantage of it.
In addition, there is a danger that the accused will commit further criminal acts while at large – this is what the arrest order, which is available to the newspaper “Krone”, says.
The crime allegedly took place on the night of April 23 to 24. Six days later, four suspects were arrested. An application for pre-trial detention was rejected and the men were released. The public prosecutor's office appealed. On June 10, the men were arrested again. Charges were filed on June 23, and the trial will take place on August 19.
All four men did not confess. They claim that there were “consensual sexual acts between the four of them and the Tyrolean woman” and that she was “neither defenceless nor otherwise impaired”. Only one of them emphasised that the 18-year-old was “noticeably drunk, staggered slightly when walking, seemed more exhausted than the others and that the guys were more sober”.
Three of the four suspects also testified that such house parties with girls had taken place regularly in the flat in question – “in Corona times even weekly”. They often bought vodka because it “made them drunk”. There had always been problems with girls.
On the other hand, there are the statements of five young women, among them the alleged victim herself. The local woman stated that none of the sexual contacts with the men that evening had happened voluntarily on her part. She could only remember sitting in the car and crying again. She had had terrible pain in her entire abdomen and anal area. She also told the doctors at the clinic that she had been raped by several men and that they had taken photographs. And she said that the glass of vodka and red wine that one of the men had prepared for her “really knocked her out”.
The other witnesses testified that the victim could hardly stand on her feet, that she walked hunched over and that they did not call the police out of fear.