British paratrooper charged with rape of six-year-old Austrian girl
Unnamed British paratrooper charged with rape and grievous sexual abuse of a minor after allegedly climbing into girl's bedroom while in Austria on week of ski training
Innsbruck Photo: Alamy
By Andrew Marszal, and agencies
12:24PM GMT 21 Jan 2015
Austrian prosecutors said on Wednesday that they have charged a British soldier for allegedly breaking into a local family's house and sexually abusing their six-year-old daughter.
The paratrooper, 30, who has not been named, has been charged with rape and grievous sexual abuse of a minor, said Hansjoerg Mayr, public prosecutor in the western Austrian state of Tyrol.
"The trial will start on March 10," Mr Mayr said. The defendant faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The soldier, who was taking part in a week of ski training in the Alps, was tackled by the girl's father in the house in Neustift during the alleged incident late last year, and has been in Austrian custody ever since.
He is serving with 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery.
An Army spokesman said in December, shortly after his arrest: “The Army is aware of the arrest and detention of a soldier in Neustift, Austria, on the morning of 29 November. This is a matter for the Austrian authorities and it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.”
According to the Austrian newspaper Heute, the girl's father caught the “half-naked” soldier in the act of attacking his daughter, and “beat him bloody” before police arrived.
The soldier broke into a house in the small town Neustift, in the Stubaital valley, an area of ski resorts south of Innsbruck, gaining access to the girl's bedroom through a window.
Neustift, which has fewer than 5,000 permanent inhabitants, attracts more than a million overnight visitors each year.
