The Oulu district court has convicted a 29-year-old man for the sexual abuse of a minor, who was 13 years-old at the time the offences were committed.
The court sentenced the defendant, Javad Mirzad, to three years and four months in prison after he was found guilty of aggravated child sexual abuse.
The court found that the offences occurred at a private residence in the Oulu region last August and that the victim and the defendant had been in contact via a messaging service.
The conviction is the fourth in a series of similar cases in which the same 13-year-old girl is believed to have suffered abuse at the hands of of eight different foreign-background men between June and October last year. On Wednesday, another defendant -- a 22-year-old man -- received a three-year sentence after conviction on similar charges.
Defendant likely to appeal
Oulu district prosecutor Kaisa Kytömäki said that she hadn’t fully reviewed the court’s arguments for the sentence, but remarked that it was in line with previous sentencing handed down in the series of related cases, adding that it aligned well with the prosecutor’s demands.
"The sentence appears to be well-reasoned," she continued.
Defence attorney Heikki Aspegren said that he had not yet spoken with his client, but told Yle that he believed that they would appeal the sentence.
"There is justification for an appeal. The prison sentence seems rather long. I believe that the sentence has been a disappointment for my client," Aspegren added.
Tabloid daily Iltalehti reported on Friday that the defendant denied the charges against him and told the court that he believed the girl was 16. In Finland, the legally-defined age of consent is 16.
Edit 7.6.2019 The original headline erroneously stated that the sentence was 30 months.