Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Austrian police have admitted to not warning the public about a serial rapist who struck at least seven times near the same nightclub in order to avoid creating “panic, hysteria and uncertainty”.
The revelation was made after the arrest of an African man, from the Comoros islands, who has been linked by DNA evidence to at least seven attacks on women as well as numerous sex assaults, all in the same area of Klagenfurt, the capital of Carinthia in southern Austria.
In many cases the women were also seriously injured. Police believe that the man carried out his first attack when he was 25 in 2015 near a nightclub in the city of Klagenfurt in southern Austria.
Court spokesman Christian Liebhauser-Karl said the suspect is currently in investigative custody and police say the number of sex attacks he is alleged to have been involved in could increase still further.
The suspect was apprehended when police published an artist’s impression more than 4 years later in November 2019 showing the 30-year-old, which reportedly caused him to go to ground.
A police spokesman claimed it had not been possible to give more detail on the man’s appearance earlier because there was no clear description of the attacker, with some saying that he was ‘Arabic’ looking, and others saying that he appeared to be of ‘African origin’.
Instead of warning the public about the serial rapist, police strengthened patrols in the area, informing only local pub owners, but not notifying the local nightclub around which the man targeted most of his victims, according to local media. They said it was not possible because the owner was unavailable as he was ill.
The suspect was arrested when detectives operating as part of the special task force set up to track the serial rapist down managed to obtain a DNA match from one of his alleged victims that led him to be arrested.
The man, who was not named, was said to have not attracted police attention previously and spoke almost perfect German.
The investigation continues.
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