Helsinki city centre rapist allowed to keep sentence – appeals court rejected appeal
Helsinki Court of Appeal upheld a sentence of 2 years and 2 months' imprisonment for a rape committed at the City Centre shopping mall. The convicted Ahmed Abdullahi Ahmed was ordered to pay the victim almost 10,000 euros.
Appeals court rejected rapist's appeal – sentence stands
According to Ilta-Sanomat, Helsinki Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal in which a man convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl at City Centre shopping mall demanded that the District Court's sentence be quashed. The Court of Appeal found that there were no grounds for quashing the sentence.
The unconditional prison sentence of two years and two months remains in force, and the man remains in custody.
The crime occurred in the early morning of 2 June 2024 in the shopping centre's toilets in Helsinki's city centre. The 17-year-old victim was celebrating the end of school with friends and had entered the toilet facilities heavily intoxicated. A man she did not know pulled her by the hand into a toilet cubicle and raped her. After the act, the man left the scene; the victim was left crying and immediately told a friend what had happened. Police were called to the scene and the girl underwent a sexual violence examination.
The court found the victim's account reliable. This was supported by video and photographic evidence as well as a witness's testimony.
The convicted man, now 32 years old Ahmed Abdullahi Ahmed, claimed that everything had happened by mutual agreement. The courts did not find this claim credible — the man's version of events was described in the judgment as "absurd" and "glaringly unrealistic and implausible".
Ahmed was ordered to pay the victim 6,500 euros in compensation for suffering and over 3,500 euros in legal costs.
The Court of Appeal judgment delivered in early October is not yet final. The case may be appealed to the Supreme Court for a leave to appeal.
Source: Ilta-Sanomat