The Vienna Regional Court sentenced Günther Paal (Gunkl), 64, to three years in prison on 22 October 2026 for child sexual abuse and possession of abuse images. The ruling is not yet legally binding.
According to the prosecution, Paal paid a total of 159,000 euros to the two women, and a further 30,000 euros handed over in June led to the arrest of the 42-year-old woman.
The 42-year-old woman and her 62-year-old mother were sentenced to prison terms of two years and three months and two years and nine months, according to newsORF. The mother pleaded guilty, and the grandmother denied the allegations.
Paal is alleged to have abused the young daughter of the younger woman in January 2021 in the presence of both women. He reported himself to the police in September, according to newsORF.
The Vienna Regional Court (Landesgericht Wien) sentenced Günther Paal, a 64-year-old Austrian cabaret artist who performs as Gunkl, to three years in prison for sexual abuse of a child and possession of child abuse images. According to newsORF, the sentence is unconditional, and the ruling is not yet legally binding. Paal had faced a maximum of five years, because in Austria the penalty reaches ten years only when intercourse or physical violence is involved, and according to the indictment neither took place in this case. Paal admitted the charges and confessed to abusing a toddler several years ago. He had gone to the police himself in September, before the case reached court.
Two women, a 42-year-old and her 62-year-old mother, were tried alongside him on blackmail charges. According to the prosecution, they threatened to expose the abuse, and Paal paid a total of 159,000 euros. An additional 30,000 euros handed over in June led to the arrest of the 42-year-old woman, because Paal had already reported himself to the police. The younger woman is the mother of the girl Paal is alleged to have abused in January 2021 in the presence of both women. Newsorf reports that the women were sentenced to prison terms of two years and three months and of two years and nine months, while the possible range for them was one to ten years. The women were held in pre-trial custody, while Paal was not.
The mother pleaded guilty in court, while the grandmother denied the allegations. According to the defendants' own statements, the three first met more than ten years ago after Paal answered an online advertisement placed by two masseuses. Sexual contact between the three took place, and Paal paid for it. At trial Paal described the arrangement as prostitution, while the women spoke of friendship playing a part. Der Tagesspiegel reported that Paal brought a laptop containing child abuse images to the meetings and showed it to the women, and that the abuse took place at a later meeting when the girl was a toddler. The case recalls Austrian actor Florian Teichtmeister, who received a two-year suspended sentence in 2023 for collecting and reworking tens of thousands of child abuse files.
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A Vienna court sentenced Austrian cabaret artist Günther Paal, who performs as Gunkl, to three years in prison on 22 October 2026. The ruling is not yet legally binding, and two women who blackmailed him were sentenced as well.
AI text based on reports by Focus, Süddeutsche Zeitung, newsORF.at and other publishers. Published .