The courts found that the 17-year-old girl was capable of giving consent, despite being intoxicated.
The Helsinki Court of Appeal has issued its ruling in a case in which three men were suspected of raping a minor near Malmi hospital in Helsinki in October 2024.
Three men had sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl in a wooded area near the hospital. The girl had been taken to the hospital due to acute intoxication.
The Helsinki District Court dismissed the charges in the case that attracted significant public attention.
The District Court ruled that the girl was not so intoxicated as to be incapable of forming consent, and that the men could reasonably have believed she had agreed to the encounter.
The girl appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal, which ultimately upheld the lower court’s reasoning and dismissed the charges.
The Court of Appeal noted that, based on CCTV footage, the complainant’s level of intoxication did not prevent her from forming or expressing consent. The court therefore upheld the district court’s judgment.
