Helsinki Court of Appeals upholds convictions: two men sentenced to 2 years 4 months imprisonment for aggravated rape
The Helsinki Court of Appeals increased sentences for two men convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl in 2018. The final sentence is two years and four months imprisonment.
Court of Appeals: rape of 15-year-old in hotel room was serious crime
The Helsinki Court of Appeals has increased sentences for two men convicted of rape that occurred in spring 2018, Yle Uutiset reported. The men took a 15-year-old girl to a hotel room and raped her in turn in several different ways.
The victim was previously unknown to the girl. She had escaped from a residential facility and used a dating application to which she had provided a false age. Through the application, she met a third man who picked up the heavily intoxicated girl with the two men later convicted of rape.
The district court had sentenced Abdul Rahman Aziz, born in 1997, and Haseebullah Hayatzada, born in 1989, to one year and ten months imprisonment and ordered them to pay the victim a total of 11,000 euros in compensation for pain and suffering.
All parties appealed the decision. The men requested a reduction in their sentences based on grounds including delays in the proceedings.
The Court of Appeals found both men guilty of aggravated rape. The increase in sentence was influenced by the age difference between the men and the victim, exploitation of the victim's vulnerable position, and the premeditated nature of the act.
According to the Court of Appeals' assessment, the victim has given a consistent account of the events. Testimony from witnesses, medical reports and DNA evidence support the victim's account. The men's accounts, by contrast, were found to be general in nature and partly contradictory to each other.
Due to delays in the proceedings, the sentences were reduced by six months. The final sentence imposed by the Court of Appeals is two years and four months imprisonment. The court also increased compensation to be paid to the victim.
Source: Yle Uutiset