Image: (APA/JOCHEN HOFER)
The Afghan refugees, aged 23, 26, 29, 36, 52 and 57, received prison sentences of seven years (in two cases), 7.5 years, 8 years, 9 years and 12.5 years. The defense lawyers asked for time to think about it, the judgments are not final.
The men were accused of sexually assaulting a 45-year-old, heavily drunk woman in a refugee accommodation in Bludenz in February 2022. In court, two of the men denied having had sex with the woman. The other defendants spoke of consensual sex. The fact that all of the accused had intimate contact with the woman was substantiated by a corresponding report. The expert’s statements in court, which were based on the relevant analyses, left no doubt about this. According to court psychiatrist Reinhard Haller, the accused were all sane at the time of the crime, even if two have a “slight mental handicap”.
The presiding judge justified the guilty verdict with the condition of the 45-year-old at the time of the crime. The woman, who stayed in the refugee accommodation for several days, was found to be in a state of defenselessness. In this case, their consent to sexual intercourse – the men had referred to this – is of no importance, the judge referred to the established case law. The act testifies to enormous misanthropy and renders the jury speechless, said the judge.
The range of sentences was five to 15 years, in one case five to 20 years. The fact that the men were under the influence of alcohol was rated as a mitigating factor, and in the case of two men their irreproachable character. The circumstances of the crime made things worse – namely that several men in a row had sex with the woman without protection.
Source: Nachrichten
