Viennese woman known from beating video sentenced to eight years in prison

In 2016, a video of the now 22-year-old woman and others beating a 15-year-old woman went viral. Now she was not convicted of aggravated robbery and false testimony.

A 22-year-old Viennese woman was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday at the regional court for aggravated robbery and false testimony. In 2016, a video of the young woman in which she and acquaintances beat up a 15-year-old made headlines. After the verdict was announced, she threw up her hands and asked for time to think it over after consulting her legal clerk. The judgment is not final.

The 22-year-old did not confess. Seven years ago, the now young woman and several acquaintances beat, humiliated and insulted a 15-year-old girl in front of a shopping center in Vienna-Donaustadt. The victim suffered a broken jaw. The aggressors filmed the act, the video went viral on Facebook, was viewed more than 4.5 million times and shared tens of thousands of times. Since then, the then 16-year-old violent criminal has had three previous convictions. Most recently, she received 18 months on a part-conditional basis.

17 year old attacked

Now it was all about a serious robbery of a 17-year-old, in which the 22-year-old is said to have been involved. The boy was on his way home on April 17, 2022 when three people followed him as he got off the night bus: a young man and two fully veiled women. The man first asked the 17-year-old for a light and then for money. When he did not receive either, the 17-year-old received a punch in the face. The teenager suffered a displaced, multiple fracture of the nose. The women involved took his mobile phone and ransacked his backpack.

Thanks to a video from the surveillance cameras of Wiener Linien, the male suspect could be identified. It was the accused’s friend at the time, who had already been convicted in separate proceedings for the robbery and two assaults. He also had an eight-year prison sentence, which is already final. The 23-year-old now charged his ex-girlfriend as a witness. One of the two veiled women recorded by the surveillance camera was “one hundred percent clear” the accused, the other a friend of the 22-year-old, of whom he only knew the first name.

“I wasn’t there”

The 22-year-old denied that: “I wasn’t there.” And she boldly said in the direction of the jury (chairman: Stefan Erdei): “How do you want to recognize who they are in the pictures? You can’t even see your eyes.” The second charge on which the young woman was found guilty related to her testimony in the trial against her ex-boyfriend, in which she is said to have told untruth as a witness. She had firmly denied her involvement in the robbery of the 17-year-old under a duty of truth. (APA)