Boy (3) probably abused in the Lech ski school

The boy is said to have been sexually abused by a ski school employee during a skiing holiday in Lech am Arlberg in the second week of January. After returning to Vienna – the family lives in the federal capital – the boy’s physical condition became noticeably worse. On January 16, he reported to his parents about the attack.

The father filed a complaint in Vienna after his son was able to identify a suspect in a photo by describing him as a “bad man”. According to the three-year-old, the children’s ski instructor also covered his mouth and choked and hit him.

The allegations of abuse were firmly rejected by the care facility in Lech. “That’s not true, that can’t be,” it said on Friday to the APA. The children are looked after in one room, a child is never left alone with just one person – there are usually five. One cannot explain the allegations against the ski instructor. The facility’s homepage states that the multilingual supervisors are “trained and experienced kindergarten teachers, children’s ski instructors and trained animators”.

“The investigations can be described as more than lax,” criticized lawyer Nikolaus Rast on Friday in an interview with APA about the actions of the Vorarlberg police. This initially approached an employee of the ski school without confronting the suspect with the ad. This has not been heard for the time being. “For me it is incomprehensible that this gives an employee the opportunity to warn the alleged perpetrator,” said Rast. This gives “the dumbest criminal in the world the opportunity to destroy any evidence”.

The police confirmed to the APA the ongoing investigation into the sexual abuse of minors, but rejected the allegations that the surveys had been delayed. The complaint was initially made in Vienna. This fact was also confirmed by the public prosecutor’s office in Feldkirch. “The ad was filed in Vienna on January 25, the first surveys were made in Vienna,” the authority said. The file arrived in Feldkirch on the evening of February 1, and since then it has been investigated “at full speed”.

The Vorarlberg State Police Headquarters commented on the criticism from the legal representative of the three-year-old’s parents as follows: “In coordination with the State Criminal Police Office in Vienna, the Vorarlberg police immediately carried out initial surveys and interrogations in Lech and opened preliminary proceedings that are currently pending with the public prosecutor’s office in Feldkirch The existing findings on the alleged course of events and a potential suspect are currently being thoroughly examined.” The investigations and trace evaluations are “in full swing”. Further information on the ongoing investigation and details of the facts are not currently being published.