The gang, aged between 14 and 17, are alleged to have used the teacher’s home as a safe house for storing drugs before they blackmailed and raped the 28-year-old woman
A gang of schoolboys allegedly blackmailed and raped a teacher before burgling and torching her flat.
The 28-year-old woman is said to have been tormented by the group of seven teenagers, aged between 14 and 17, from May 2024 to January 2025. A trial in Austria heard that the woman’s torment began shortly after she entered into a legal and consensual relationship with a 17-year-old former pupil who was no longer at the school.
The court heard the teen bragged to his friends about the relationship and soon a group of boys began to turn up at the teacher’s home. The teens allegedly claimed they were part of a criminal gang and threatened to expose the relationship if the woman did not let them into her flat, the Sun reports.
The teens – from Iraq, Romania and Afghanistan – allegedly began using the home as a safe house for storing drugs. The trial heard the gang sexually assaulted the woman both individually and in groups, blackmailed her with recordings, and forced her to pay for their food, taxis, and cigarettes.
The group allegedly filmed the encounters and threatened to send the clips around her school if she did not comply with their requests. As the woman feared for her job, she did not tell anyone and instead endured months of abuse, it was said.
During the trial, the prosecution said that the teenagers stole cash and possessions from the teacher. Things got so bad that, in January 2025, it was alleged, that three of the teens, aged 15 and one 14, broke into the flat and stole jewellery, watches, and sunglasses. Prosecutors then say they set fire to the flat to destroy evidence.
The defendants have admitted to the burglary but deny deliberately starting the fire. The teens’ lawyers maintain that the encounters were consensual. While the defence has admitted to some thefts and drug-related offences, they categorically deny the sexual-violence charges.
Prosecutors say the youth gang has around 70 to 80 members, with teens posting videos of their crimes online. The court heard that phone records and other digital evidence reveal repeated visits and a coordinated campaign of intimidation from May 2024 onwards.
In September 2024, at the start of the school year, the woman is said to have called in sick to work as she could not face her pupils amid the alleged abuse. By November, prosecutors say the abuse had escalated, including assaults on her terrace and filmed incidents allowed for the blackmail.
The trial is set to continue on October 15.