Court gives grandfather suspended sentence in child kidnapping case | Yle News

In May 2023, a three-and-a-half-year-old child was kidnapped in Pori and taken to Serbia by a family member who was caught and extradited to Finland.

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The Satakunta District Court on Thursday delivered its verdict in a high-profile child abduction case in which a three-and-a-half-year-old child was kidnapped in Pori and taken abroad in May 2023.

The main suspect in the case was later found with the child in Serbia, where he was detained by local authorities and later extradited to Finland.

The district court sentenced a 65-year-old man to one year and two months of suspended imprisonment for child abduction and aggravated deprivation of liberty.

According to information obtained by Yle, the convicted man is the child’s grandfather and worked as a doctor. He later changed his name.

The district court also convicted a 50-year-old woman of aggravated kidnapping and child abduction. She received an eight-month suspended sentence.

Sealed judgment

The court heard the case in closed session in May, but the verdict was not issued until Thursday. The verdict will remain sealed for 60 years.

In a statement, the court said the child was taken abroad without the consent of the guardian. The suspects planned to take the child abroad for a long period of time, but not permanently.

The convicted man and woman were ordered to pay the child 3,000 and 1,000 euros in compensation for mental suffering, respectively. They were also ordered to compensate the Satakunta Wellbeing district for the costs incurred, including travel costs associated with collecting the child from Serbia.

The woman was also ordered to forfeit the camper to the state because it was used in committing a crime.

Child taken to Serbia via Sweden

During the initial investigation, police found evidence indicating that the prime suspect had carefully planned the kidnapping.

In May 2023, the main suspect first took the child by car to Merikarvia in the northern part of Sakunta, where he abandoned the car and, together with an accomplice, drove the child to Sweden via the Finnish border town of Tornio in a camper.

The police arrested the accomplice at the port of Helsinki as she was returning from Sweden.

From Sweden, the 65-year-old suspect continued his journey with the child by land to Serbia, where he was captured.

It was previously reported that police believed the suspect’s motive in kidnapping the child was confidential child custody issues, which led to the case being kept under wraps.