Tikkanen avoids charges for attempted murder related to car incident at Helsinki’s Market Square

Roope Bob Tikkanen, a psychiatrist convicted for the murder in Ullanlinna, will not face charges for attempted murder connected to a car driving incident at Helsinki’s Market Square. Prosecutors had sought to revoke a fine related to this case for a second time, citing several new pieces of evidence that emerged during the police investigation.

According to a decision by the Supreme Court, the prosecutors’ request to overturn the fine will not be investigated. The court noted that previous requests for the fine’s revocation had already been made, and since no particularly compelling reasons have emerged to warrant a reevaluation of the matter, the current request will similarly be left unexamined.

In 2023, it was reported that the man cannot be charged with attempted murder, despite police suspicions that he intentionally drove into the sea with his family in the vehicle. The Supreme Court ruled that the double jeopardy principle prevents prosecution in this instance, meaning that the existing fine for driving into the sea must first be overturned for him to face attempted murder charges.

Tikkanen was sentenced in December 2021 to 16 day fines for endangering traffic safety. At the time, authorities viewed the incident as an accident. The car was driven into the water in 2021 at Helsinki’s Market Square while Tikkanen was behind the wheel of a test-driven Volvo, with his wife, four children—one of whom is an adult—and their dog in the vehicle.

In August, Tikkanen was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife in Ullanlinna. This crime occurred in December 2022 at the couple’s shared home, where Tikkanen violently struck his wife multiple times in the head and inflicted further violence upon her.