Last week, a 24-year-old “asylum seeker*” attacked a 22-year-old Austrian woman as she unlocked her apartment door in the Meidling district of Vienna. The perp dragged her into a courtyard and tried to rape her.
The victim pulled a knife on her attacker and wounded him. Police found the suspect at a subway station with multiple stab wounds and transported him to the hospital. The suspect had the victim’s stolen handbag. An unidentified witness interviewed by police confirmed that the woman acted in self-defense.
The victim of the sexual assault faces now faces a new battle. Local prosecutors in Vienna charged her with assault inflicting bodily harm. Police have ordered her to submit to an interrogation.
Authorities also kept everything a secret from the public until Crown News, a local newspaper, pressured the police department to release details. Crown News says readers informed them of the attempted rape. The media outlet says their website has been flooded with hundreds of comments by people supporting the victim and accusing the police department of concealing the attack from the public.
Michael Dohr, the victim’s lawyer, says that his client is traumatized, and the criminal charges against her are an outrage. Dohr says his client will be exonerated, but the authorities create a climate of fear and make victims terrified to fight back against their attackers.
- The European media uses the term “asylum seeker” as a euphemism for an illegal immigrant, similar to the term “undocumented worker” in the US media. The suspect is allegedly from Syria, however, a large percentage of these migrants discarded their identifications and falsely claimed to be Syrian because that makes it harder to get deported.
