Supreme Court upheld life sentence for Joensuu homicide
The Supreme Court ordered a 30-year-old man to serve a life sentence after it quashed the appeals court's lighter conviction for manslaughter in the killing of his partner in the summer of 2022.
Supreme Court upheld life sentence for Joensuu homicide
A 30-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment after the Supreme Court (KKO) quashed the appeals court's previous decision. The victim of the crime was the man's partner, and the act took place in late July 2022 in Noljaka, Joensuu.
In the couple's shared home, the man first attempted to kill his sleeping partner with a blade weapon to the neck. The woman woke and tried to escape from the flat. The man followed her and killed her in the stairwell with multiple blows from a kitchen knife.
Initially, the district court considered the act to be murder and imposed a life sentence. Later, the appeals court reduced the conviction to manslaughter and lowered the sentence to 11 years in prison. According to the appeals court's view, the act was not sufficiently serious overall to meet the criteria for murder.
The prosecutor appealed the decision further. The Supreme Court found that the man had prepared the act by bringing multiple weapons into the bedroom. The court considered the act to be particularly brutal and cruel. Additionally, the Supreme Court noted that the violence was directed at a defenceless intimate partner.
A mental state examination concluded that the man understood the significance of his act at the time of the offence. He himself cited the influence of intoxicating substances and reported suffering from hallucinations.
Source: Yle
Source: Yle Uutiset