Finnish court sentences two teens to prison for prolonged brutal assault in Mustasaari

A district court in Ostrobothnia has sentenced two 17-year-olds to prison for a two-hour assault on a former friend in Mustasaari, ruling the attack was carried out with “exceptional brutality and cruelty,” Yle reports.

The February 2025 assault involved repeated beating, kicking, humiliation, and threats, including forcing the victim to eat dirty snow and dance while being filmed. The attackers struck the victim at least 30 times in the head and face, leaving visible boot prints on their forehead, along with a mild brain injury, knee damage, and facial swelling. The victim missed two weeks of school and continues to suffer chronic headaches and knee pain over a year later.

Both defendants were convicted of aggravated assault and ordered to pay the victim more than €21,700 in combined compensation for physical and emotional suffering, medical costs, and damaged property. One was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, the other to two years and six months. Though minors at the time of the crime, the court imposed unconditional prison terms, citing the severity of the attack—including the use of a metal tool for intimidation, the victim’s prolonged defenselessness, and the systematic degradation, which included filming and later sharing footage on Snapchat.

The court noted that while the victim avoided severe injuries like skull fractures or brain bleeding, the potential for life-threatening harm had been high. It also rejected the prosecution’s request for immediate detention, citing the defendants’ young age and stabilized circumstances since the attack.

Judges justified the above-average compensation by emphasizing the “particularly cruel, brutal, and degrading” nature of the crime, which they ruled caused exceptional suffering. The ruling relied heavily on video evidence recorded by the attackers themselves, described in court as demonstrating “complete indifference” to the victim’s condition.

The defendants may appeal the verdict to the Court of Appeal.