As a committed member of a Christian fringe group, a 33-year-old sexually assaulted six young boys. For as long as he could remember, the father of four had to hide his homosexuality – it was frowned upon in his religious community. He is now facing a frightening accusation of abuse in the regional court in Krems (Lower Austria) – rape is also accused.
“I’ve known I was gay since I was young and I couldn’t talk to anyone about it,” the 33-year-old began his statement to police at the beginning of the year. The family of a twelve-year-old boy filed a complaint against the man. He is said to have sexually abused her son. Children from the religious community were abused. And that set off a real wave: more and more young boys came forward – they too had been sexually assaulted and abused by the defendant. All children of families from the Pentecostal Church – a Christian religious community. The 33-year-old from Lower Austria was very involved in this, leading the planning of various events – the parents also entrusted him with their children… boys were invited to “men’s evenings”, while the native Romanian looked after the – mainly – boys, inviting them to “men’s evenings”. “When he invited people to watch a film with them, his approach was always the same, according to the public prosecutor in the Krems regional court. He waited until the children and young people were fast asleep and then attacked them. Most victims can remember the actions as if they had been a bad dream. The charges are comprehensive: sexual abuse of minors, sexual abuse of defenseless people, rape and abuse of authority against a total of six boys and one girl – some under the age of 14. Homosexuality hidden for years “My client is an exception when it comes to sex offenders,” because the Lower Austrian had already made a comprehensive confession to the police, according to his defense attorney Rudolf Mayer. He admitted that he was attracted to men, a no-go in the Christian fringe group to which he belongs. That’s why the 33-year-old got married early and started a family. The defendant has four children himself…The man only denies the incident with the girl: “I have no interest in women and especially not in young girls.” Defense attorney Mayer wants to spare the victims from having to be questioned in court in Krems – his Client also pleads guilty before the jury: “He has botched his life.” After the pleas of the public prosecutor and the defense, the public is excluded to protect the victims. The verdict is handed down in the afternoon: He is found guilty in the cases of the six male victims, but he is acquitted of the charges concerning the girl. The jury sentenced him to an invalid seven-year prison sentence.
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