Image: FOTOKERSCHI.AT / KERSCHBAUMMAYR (FOTOKERSCHI.AT / KERSCHBAUMMAYR)
The 15-year-old girl received twelve months in prison, two of them unconditionally. The boy of the same age received an additional sentence of seven months, one of which was mandatory. The case against the now 17-year-old has been spun off and is scheduled to continue on March 27.
The public prosecutor had accused the friends of serious communal violence, serious bodily harm and burglary. The trio are said to have stolen cigarettes from a vending machine in September. Before the riots, the 15-year-old, a boy of the same age and a 16-year-old at the time, took the train to the Czech Republic and got category 3 and 4 fireworks there. On October 31, the three then “in the first row” according to the indictment In downtown Linz, firecrackers were thrown at the police officers, firecrackers were handed out and others were incited to throw them.
The prosecutor found it “very unusual” to “go at the police officers and fight them for no reason,” as happened on Halloween night. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured and the damage to property was “manageable”. If the three young people in custody show honest remorse and apologize in the process, the prosecution believes that they would not have to go back to prison, he said with regard to the extent of the sentence of unconditional detention.
At least for the 15-year-old, the time in custody should have been enough to realize that he had made “big mistakes”. “I’m here for ten minutes of Halloween,” he admitted. As early as February, he had received a conditional three-month sentence in a trial for coercion, and the additional penalty of seven months of partially conditional imprisonment was added on Thursday.
At first, the girl only confessed to having bought the firecrackers in the Czech Republic and taking part in the theft. The Thai woman said that she only accompanied her boyfriend – the 17-year-old accused – on Halloween. She was wearing a balaclava and probably had firecrackers with her.
After the public prosecutor confronted her with incriminating testimonies, she explained at midday after a longer pause for thought: “In my mind I didn’t shoot, maybe I’m stupid, I don’t know, I blacked out.” She apologized anyway, I “did shit”. She no longer denied that the teenager, who had already been convicted of mobile phone robbery, played a leading role in the riots during her open probationary period. That probationary period was extended to five years and she received a year’s suspended sentence on Thursday. Both she and the 15-year-old acquaintance have already served the unconditional part with the pre-trial detention and were able to “go home,” according to the court.
The Thai woman’s then boyfriend, who was also accused, insisted that he had only participated in the riots and pleaded only partially guilty. The Iraqi admitted to throwing a few firecrackers, but not at the police officers. Nor did he incite anyone else. He dismissed it as a lie that witnesses heard him yell, “If you don’t throw, you’re not a man and you don’t have any balls.” His trial has been spun off and the trial continues on March 27.
Source: Nachrichten
