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A Styrian riding instructor who was charged with four rapes was sentenced to five and a half years in prison at the Graz regional criminal court on Tuesday night. The 56-year-old man is said to have sexually abused a total of nine women. The incidents took place in the stables and partly during the lessons. Since the accused confessed, no witnesses were given.
“He first established a relationship of trust and then took the girls away,” said prosecutor Benedikt Petzner, describing the defendant’s approach. Under the pretext of “wanting to correct the sitting position”, the accused touched the girls who were sitting on the horse and then attacked some of them in the saddle room.
Defense attorney Bernhard Lehofer emphasized that his client “was not so blind as to say that everyone has conspired against him.” The defendant himself repented: “That was silly, crazy.” However, sometimes he would receive something like a “signal”. For example, a young woman admired her horse, then “she turned and put her head on my shoulder, I hugged her and kissed her,” she said. The representation of the woman sounded a little different: she described him grabbing her lower jaw and kissing her hard.
The defendant asked for time to think about it, the prosecutor gave no explanations. The judgment is not final.
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