Swedish man charged with attempted murder after teenager’s suicide attempt
Tuesday 27th October 2026 on 12:15 in
Austria
A Swedish man has been indicted on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly encouraging a 14-year-old girl in Vienna to attempt suicide, ORF reports. The girl survived a suicide attempt in her apartment building in May.
The indictment alleges that the man encouraged the girl, who had difficult family circumstances and had at times stayed in a crisis centre, and helped prepare for the attempt by buying items she needed. He was reportedly present on May 26 as she tried to take her life and watched for several minutes without helping. She survived after a neighbour intervened.
Prosecutors also allege that the man cut the girl’s wrist veins with a shard of glass one or two nights earlier, at a construction site in her residential building. They consider this an attempt to kill her. The May 26 incident is charged as attempted murder by omission, on the grounds that he was obliged to intervene. The indictment says the two had been in close contact for two years and had an online relationship, with a brief interruption.
The man is said to have travelled to Vienna to support the girl, with whom he discussed suicide almost daily in online chats, and stayed at a hotel nearby. They had met through Roblox and Discord, platforms created for gaming that are also used for messaging and chat.
ORF reports that Austria’s Directorate for State Security and Intelligence recently warned of an international violent online network known as The COM, which it said contacts and manipulates children and teenagers, including in Austria.
The defendant has been in pretrial detention at Vienna’s Josefstadt prison since late May. The indictment was filed last week and is not yet final. The defence can object until early November, after which the Vienna Higher Regional Court would consider the matter. Prosecutors have also closed an investigation into suspected sexual abuse, saying the suspicion was not substantiated.
In Austria, the telephone counselling service can be reached free of charge at 142. Young people and young adults can also contact Rat auf Draht at 147.