Two teenagers found guilty of participating in the violent murder of another teenager in the Koskela area have expressed dissatisfaction with the judgment of the Helsinki District Court, which is the first step towards appealing prison sentences.
Last week, two boys, along with a third defendant, were convicted of murder as a minor. The district court sentenced one of the accused to 10 years and 1 month in prison. One defendant was sentenced to nine years and 2 months and the third to 8 years and 2 months in prison.
On the evening of Friday, December 4, 2020, the teenagers lured the boy to the area hospital area. Then, after they had been brutally beaten, they left the victim at the scene where his body was found three days later.
The perpetrators and the victim were all 16 at the time of the deadly attack. Their sentences were commuted on the grounds that the accused were minors at the time of the murder.
The varying duration of the boys ’sentences was affected by how much violence they had used against the victim. Defendants’ dissatisfaction with the verdict has so far been expressed in the teenager who received the longest sentence and the boy who received the shortest sentence.
"A decision on the complaint or its content has not yet been taken, but will be taken later in September," said Dan Palvinen, a teenage lawyer sentenced to the shortest prison sentence.
All three defendants denied the murder charge they received. The two boys, who received longer sentences, plead guilty to aggravated murder and aggravated assault.
“Brutal, cruel and humiliating”
The accused, who received the shortest sentence, only admitted to beating the victim. Evidence was heard that the teenager was not present at the crime scene for part of the evening when the violent and prolonged attack took place.
All three defendants based their case on the presumption that the murder was not intentional. In addition, their defense was based on the extent to which each boy was involved in the violence.
However, the Helsinki District Court ruled that the boy’s death was intentional. It stated that the accused had jointly agreed to participate in the violence and that they had to consider the death of the victim as a fairly likely consequence of their acts of violence.
The psychological assessments ordered by the court showed that the accused were reasonable and therefore criminally liable on the night of the murder.
The district court’s decision found that the victim was subjected to brutal, cruel and humiliating violence for several hours and was left to lie in the cold and that none of the defendants had even tried to get help for the victim.
The prosecutor has yet to decide
The prosecutor also has the opportunity to appeal the district court’s decision, but on Tuesday it had not decided to send a report of its dissatisfaction with the verdict.
During the trial in the district court, the prosecutor had demanded sentences one or two years longer than the defendants received last week.
"We will make a decision at the end of this week," prosecutor Satu Pomoell said.
Janne Nuutinen, the victim’s lawyer, said shortly after the district court made its decision last week that the victim’s relatives accepted the verdict. During the trial, the victim’s relatives had demanded that all three defendants be sentenced to 12 years in prison.
According to the law, an appeal against dissatisfaction with a court decision in such a case can be made to the court within a week of the judgment. After that, there is a month to take the matter to the Court of Appeal. In this case, the deadline is October 4, 2021.