Three Afghan migrants accused of drugging and raping 13-year-old Austrian girl Leonie and leaving her to die by a tree are not set to face murder charges in an Austrian court.
The three Afghan migrants have been charged with rape resulting in death and serious sexual abuse of a minor but have not been formally charged by Vienna prosecutors with murder, a fact the lawyers for Leonie’s family say they do not understand.
“We are of the opinion that someone who [puts] eight ecstasy tablets into a 13-year-old and has relevant experience with drugs is liable to prosecution for murder,” lawyer Johannes Öhlböck said, Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung reports.
Florian Höllwarth, another lawyer for the family of the victim, said that the move to charge the three Afghans with murder would have no bearing on the sentencing, as the migrants face sentences of either 20 years or life in prison either way, but argued the charges would be symbolic.
Afghans Accused of Murdering Teen Had Years-Old Deportation Orders https://t.co/1VIqzLN3x3
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 7, 2021
The two lawyers argued that the Afghans, who were familiar with illegal drugs, knew how much would cause an overdose and say they hope that during the trial the prosecutor will bring formal murder charges against the migrants.
The trial is set to take place in mid-September and according to Kronen Zeitung, evidence exists of the Afghans recording themselves during their crime.
Shortly after Leonie’s body was discovered in Vienna in June of last year, it emerged that several of the accused Afghan migrants not only had existing deportation orders but that some of the orders had been years old.
An Afghan migrant believed to be linked to the rape and murder of a 13-year-old Austrian girl has been arrested in Sadiq Khan's London following an international manhunt https://t.co/N83Erch0Kf
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 1, 2021
“If the two defendants with a criminal record had been deported after their convictions, Leonie’s death could have been prevented,” lawyer Öhlböck said.
One of the Afghan men accused of murdering Leonie fled the country after her death and was only found and arrested weeks later in the UK where he was the subject of an international arrest warrant.
The 22-year-old was one of the two allegedly who met Leonie the day of her death at the Danube canal in Vienna and gave there the tablets of ecstasy before taking her to an apartment in the Donau district where she was given more drugs before being raped and ultimately died.
Following her death, the migrants are said to have taken her body and propped it against a tree nearby where she was eventually found.
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