A couple who ran an equestrian centre in Naantali were sentenced to imprisonment on Thursday for aggravated sexual offences against children.
The centre was owned by Turku Animal Shelter.
The District Court of Southwest Finland ruled that the man sexually assaulted two of the victims and the woman assisted the man in the offences. The man was also convicted of harassing two other victims.
The court sentenced the 48-year-old man to three years and nine months in prison for two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and two counts of sexual harassment. The 43-year-old woman was sentenced to two years in prison on a charge of complicity in aggravated abuse.
Girls between the ages of 12 and 20 were subjected to sexual acts of varying degrees throughout the ten years the stable was operating.
The court ordered the couple to pay tens of thousands of euros in compensation to the victims. The man was ordered to pay the victims a total of 35,000 euros, including 28,000 euros jointly with the woman.
Both defendants denied the offences in their preliminary statements to the district court.
The investigation into the case, which has been going on for several years, started in 2021, when the couple were imprisoned in May and June on suspicion of aggravated sexual abuse of a child between 2013 and 2016.