Pedophile Let Off For Raping 10-Year-Old By Judge: 'His Religion Says It’s Ok'

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A judge has ruled that a pedophile "didn't rape" a child that he forced to have sex with him, because he comes from a culture where such actions are "acceptable."

Finland's Supreme Court rejected the prosecution’s request to appeal a previous prison sentence handed down by a Pirkanmaa court.

Juusuf Muhamed Abbudin was sentenced to three years in prison for sexual crimes committed against a 10-year-old girl in autumn 2016 but was not convicted of rape, despite acknowledgment from the court that he had sexual intercourse with the child.

The 2016 ruling stated that Abbudin thought the child was his "girlfriend" because she didn't fight back when he violently raped her and that the asylum seeker had just arrived in Finland from a country where sexual relationships between adults and children are "normal."

The court also noted that Muslim migrant acted under "religious freedom" as his own faith doesn't condemn such acts.

The Finnish appeal court upheld the previous ruling triggering public outrage.

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According to RT, Finnish media identify him as Juusuf Muhamed Abbudin, an asylum seeker, but don’t reveal his country of origin.

The man was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse, although the prosecution had sought a harsher sentence on charges of aggravated rape.

However, the court left the original verdict unchanged.

The incident took place near the city of Tampere in southern Pirkanmaa region in autumn 2016.

The man had sexual intercourse with a girl, who was 10-years old at the time, in the yard of a deserted apartment block.

He also exchanged sexually charged messages with her. 

Both Pirkanmaa District Court and the Appeal Court in the city of Turku convicted the asylum seeker of aggravated sexual abuse and handed him a three-year prison sentence in 2017.

The courts didn’t recognize the incident as rape, saying the girl wasn’t forced into the sexual act or overcome by fear because she didn't fight back.

The judges also ordered the man to pay the child €3,000 ($3,600).

The decision fueled fierce debates across the country.

Tuula Tamminen, professor of Child Psychiatry at the University of Tampere, insisted that the child simply couldn’t know what was happening in such a situation.

Back in November 2017, National Coalition Party MP Kari Tolvanen spoke in favor of longer sentences for such offenses. 

“The amendment would introduce harsher sentences for serious sexual offenses against children overall.

"In my view, that is fully justified, for example in light of a child’s vulnerability, even if the act does not meet the threshold for rape,” Tolvanen said. 

In March, Finland's Justice Minister Antti Hakkanen also called for tougher laws for sexual offenses committed against minors. 

“Children should be protected from violence and sexual assault by all available means,” the minister stated. 

“I asked officials for proposals on toughening the law on sex crimes.

"I regard these proposals as viable and I intend to advance them.” 

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Sexually-charged messages

According to YLE, the Pirkanmaa District Court and the Turku Appeal Court both convicted the man of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and sentenced him to a three-year custodial sentence.

Both courts found that the man had had sexual intercourse with the child and had performed sexual acts with her by sending messages about sexual matters.

Both courts threw out charges brought against the man for aggravated rape.

The courts ruled that there was no evidence to indicate that the sexual encounter involved violence or that the child was overcome by fear or incapacitated in any other way.

At the time of the incident, the victim was 10 and the defendant was 20 years old. The sexual abuse took place in a small town in the Pirkanmaa region, near Tampere.

Legal scholars baffled by the ruling

The court judgments sparked spirited national debate last autumn.

Legal scholars expressed bewilderment over the finding that the act was not against the victim’s will and did not involve violence.

For example, Turku University’s Jussi Tapani and Matti Tolvanen of the University of Eastern Finland, both professors of criminal law, examined the jurisprudence involved in the case in the daily Helsingin Sanomat.

Both scholars agreed that there's no way a child could agree to a sexual relationship with an adult male and that a ten-year-old child would have no way of defending themselves during a violent sexual attack.

In November, Yle asked members of Parliament’s Law Committee if the case warranted changes to the legal code.

Earlier this year, Justice Minister Antti Häkkänen called for tougher laws for sex offenses against children.