A 27-year-old Afghan national has been convicted for raping an unconscious 15-year-old girl at a party in Lower Austria after she was drugged with knockout drops.
The case began four and a half years ago with a Turkish national, then 18 years old, who was reportedly having a casual relationship with the 15-year-old victim. During a party in the Mostviertel neighborhood, another man, a 16-year-old Syrian, is said to have given the girl a drink with knockout drops.
According to the indictment, the 27-year-old Afghan laid the unconscious, naked girl on a mattress and sexually assaulted the victim several times. In addition, an 18-year-old Turk along with a 16-year-old Syrian, a 14-year-old individual with Austrian citizenship, and a 15-year-old Romanian also participated in the sexual assault, although it is unclear exactly what their role in the attack was.
Two of the accused even filmed it. The next day, the teenage girl woke up, and the Afghan made her watch the video.
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The 27-year-old Afghan male was initially only a witness, and at the time, received a conditional conviction for drug use. Despite his conviction, he was granted asylum in France and moved there in 2019.
During the investigation, his role in the sexual assault became more clear, and after an international arrest warrant was issued, he was taken into custody.
In court on Thursday in St. Pölten, the 27-year-old admitted to having abused the 15-year-old.
“I was drunk. I didn’t think,” the Afghan said.
The court has sentenced him to eight years in prison for abusing a defenseless person and making false statements, as well as seven months probation.
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The remaining four accused received much milder sentences because of their age, receiving between a 20-month conditional sentence to two and half years in prison.
It is not the only case involving an Afghan migrant who raped an underage girl, with Austria experiencing a number of similar incidents in recent years. Vienna was shocked last year after a number of Afghan migrants gang raped a 13-year-old girl and then murdered her. The shocking case, along with severe integration problems with Afghan migrants, led Austria to reject accepting Afghan refugees after the U.S.’s chaotic withdrawal in Afghanistan.
