crime
Three women killed in Viennese brothel
Three women were found dead in a brothel in Vienna-Brigittenau. A suspect is in police custody. photo
© Georg Hochmuth/APA/dpa
A passerby alerts the police because he notices a trail of blood. Shortly afterwards, the investigators see a gruesome sight. A suspect is quickly caught, the motive is unclear.
After the violent deaths of three According to the police, the suspect “basically confessed” to women in a brothel in Vienna. The 27-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan will be questioned further to clarify what happened and to find out the motive for the crime, said a police spokesman.
The man was arrested on Friday evening in a green area near the crime scene. The 27-year-old still had the suspected murder weapon, a knife, with him. According to police, the man had cuts that he likely inflicted on himself.
Severe cuts and stab wounds
The police were alerted on Friday evening by a passer-by who had discovered traces of blood in front of the brothel. When the officers arrived at the establishment, they saw a terrible scene. According to the information, the killed women, presumably Chinese, had severe cuts and stab wounds, so that it was clear to the emergency services as soon as they entered the crime scene that any medical help was coming too late for the victims.
According to current knowledge, the operator of the studio is also likely to be among the dead. A fourth employee of the studio locked herself in a room, the police spokesman said. She has now been questioned as an earwitness.
The crime took place in several rooms and the bodies were found in different rooms. According to the authorities, the victims, who have not yet been identified, were treated with extremely violent force.
The perpetrator had to be put out of action
According to current knowledge, the 27-year-old was the last visitor to the studio. It is still unclear whether the man used services there or immediately attacked the women with a knife. As the Austrian news agency APA learned, the 27-year-old may have bought the knife used in the crime specifically to attack the women in the studio. According to police, he behaved aggressively when he was arrested. A police spokesman said he was therefore incapacitated with an electric shock gun.
Discussion about better protection for women
In view of the recent fatal attacks on women – a 13-year-old and her mother were also killed in Vienna on Friday – the Social Democrats in the federal government called for a national action plan to protect against violence. Every third woman in Austria is affected by violence, said the SPÖ federal women’s chairwoman Eva-Maria Holzleitner.
With the five dead women, as many women were killed by men in Vienna within 24 hours as in the entire year of 2023, according to the Autonomous Austrian Women’s Shelters Association (AÖF). Austria is the only country in the EU where more women than men are killed at the hands of men, it said.