A group of schoolboys reportedly extorted and sexually assaulted a teacher before ransacking and setting fire to her apartment.
The victim, a 28-year-old woman, endured harassment from seven teenagers aged 14 to 17 between May 2024 and January 2025. According to court proceedings in Austria, the ordeal began after she engaged in a consensual relationship with a 17-year-old former student who was no longer enrolled at the school.
The court was informed that the teenager boasted to his peers about the relationship, leading to a series of visits by a group of boys to the teacher’s residence. Allegedly claiming affiliation with a criminal organization, they coerced their way into her home by threatening to expose the relationship if she refused.
Hailing from Iraq, Romania, and Afghanistan, the teens purportedly turned the teacher’s house into a hub for storing illicit substances. They subjected her to sexual assaults, both individually and collectively, used recordings to blackmail her, and compelled her to cover their expenses for meals, transportation, and cigarettes.
The group filmed the assaults and threatened to distribute the footage within the school unless she complied with their demands. Fearing repercussions on her job, the woman remained silent and endured months of abuse.
During the trial, prosecutors asserted that the teenagers stole money and belongings from the teacher. The situation deteriorated to the extent that in January 2025, three 15-year-olds and one 14-year-old allegedly broke into the apartment, looted jewelry, watches, and sunglasses, and set the place ablaze to eradicate evidence.
While the defendants have confessed to the burglary, they deny deliberately causing the fire. Their legal representatives argue that the encounters were consensual and refute the charges of sexual violence, although they acknowledge some thefts and drug-related transgressions.
It was disclosed that the youth gang, reportedly comprising 70 to 80 members, flaunted videos of their criminal activities online. Evidence from phone records and digital sources indicated a sustained pattern of intimidation from May 2024 onwards.
In September 2024, the teacher purportedly called in sick at the commencement of the school year due to the distress caused by the abuse. By November, the assaults, including incidents on her terrace and recorded episodes for blackmail, had escalated.
The trial is scheduled to resume on October 15.
