Three-year-old boy probably abused in childcare in Lech

The boy is said to have been sexually abused by a childcare worker 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 child caregiver 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 could not explain the allegations against the supervisor. The facility’s homepage states that the multilingual supervisors are “trained and experienced kindergarten teachers, children’s ski instructors and trained animators”.

The father of the three-year-old fears that the childcare facility, which specializes in children, wants to “cover up” the attack, as he explained in a witness interview with Viennese criminalists, which the APA has received in writing. The suspected supervisor and another employee who may have noticed the abuse would no longer work in the facility. “I have the suspicion that those responsible are aware that children have been abused and that the two suspects are no longer there for this reason,” the father said on record.

“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 was initially to an employee of
Care facility approached 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.

The boy had already complained of stomach ache during his skiing holiday and suddenly didn’t want to visit the care facility anymore. He showered for a remarkably long time. When the toddler’s complaints increased after the holiday and the boy’s behavior changed noticeably – he slept badly, cried frequently, constantly sought his father’s presence – the father took him to the doctor and then to a psychotherapist. The boy has been in treatment here since January 23. In their opinion, due to the three-year-old’s “obvious, drastic changes in behavior”, it can be assumed that the boy “was exposed to an experience that was disturbing to him and experienced as an assault during his care in Lech”, as she states in a written report that the APA also available.

Meanwhile, the father handed over the clothes that his son was wearing on the day of the alleged assault to the police for analysis of any DNA traces. The family hopes that a DNA analysis will provide an answer to the question of whether it contains genetic characteristics of the suspect.