Final day at Wiener Landl in the Leonie case: All three accused were convicted of murder and rape (not final).
A year and a half after Leonie’s death and more than two months after the start of the trial at the end of September, the sixth and final day of the trial took place on Friday in room 303 of the Vienna Criminal Court. On Friday, it was the turn of the public prosecutor’s office, victims’ lawyers and defenders of the accused to make the closing arguments.
“Can only give a maximum penalty”
The public prosecutor said clearly and dryly: “There can only be one penalty here, namely the maximum penalty.”
“They won’t get rid of their guilt, but they could at least have the dignity to tell us the truth,” said victim lawyer Johannes Öhlböck, who represents Leonie’s (13) siblings, in the closing argument. “Every sixth day a woman has to die, but Leonie doesn’t count in the statistics because she was still a child,” Öhlböck continued.
“It’s about all the dead women”
Florian Höllwarth, who represents the parents, said: “It’s also about all the dead women and girls.” The judgments should therefore have a general preventive effect.
“Misunderstanding of Religions”
The lawyer for the second accused said: “Emotions are out of place. The question is: Was Leonie violated. I say no.” The lawyer spoke of a misunderstanding of the religions and also addressed the video, which is said to have been a “cry for help”. The defendants’ attorneys asked the jury to drop the emotions and rule on the facts.
“An attempt is being made to get the maximum sentence with mood. A whole group is being criminalized” – lawyer for the third accused
The lawyer for the third accused (20) claimed that Leonie (13) wanted to fool the 20-year-old alleged ex-boyfriend. Leonie would only have feigned interest in him to get drugs. And the explanations of the prosecutor would not fit together. One would also try to get the maximum sentence with a mood picture by criminalizing an entire group.
The first accused Afghan finally said: “It was never my intention that she die, I apologize to all Austrians.” He has not seen his family for around eight years and wants to see them again. Incidentally, he was forced into drug dealing. He also did everything to save the girl, didn’t want her to die.
Shortly before 12 p.m., the lay judges withdrew to deliberate on the verdict. It was only around 4:45 p.m. that they came to a conclusion that was announced in court a good hour later, which means that a verdict was only announced after around 6 hours.
The verdict of the jury is tough: three times murder, three times rape.
The 23-year-old was convicted of murder and rape, the 20-year-old of murder by omission and rape, and the 19-year-old of murder by omission and rape.
The verdict is not yet final, so the presumption of innocence continues to apply. The penalties: life imprisonment for the 23-year-old, 20 years in prison for the tenant (19) and 19 years for the alleged ex-boyfriend (20).
And Leonie’s family was awarded a total of 140,000 euros in compensation for pain and suffering.
The history
As reported several times, 13-year-old Leonie from Tulln an der Donau was given a drug overdose in a small community apartment in Vienna-Donaustadt at the end of June 2021, after which Leonie is said to have been abused by the three Afghans.
Follow us on social networks
The lifeless middle school student from Tulln was then simply leaned against a tree – everything about it here. As a result, four Afghans were arrested in total, and three Afghans (19, 20, 23) were ultimately charged. According to the expert, Leonie had been given a triple lethal dose of XTC – read more here.
A nightmare began for Leonie’s long-suffering family: mother Melanie (41), father Hannes and four siblings had to wait 18 months for a verdict.
