Trial begins for man charged with four murders in Savonlinna

A 23-year-old man goes on trial today in Savonlinna district court, charged with the murders of his three children and their mother, Yle reports.

The charges stem from a fire on Independence Day last year in Kerimäki’s Louhela area, in which three small children and their mother died. The accused, the children’s father, was 22 at the time of the alleged offences and has previously denied responsibility to police.

The defendant has prior convictions in South Savo district court, including a 2019 conditional sentence of one year and five months for rape and aggravated sexual abuse of a child committed as a juvenile. The court found him of diminished responsibility at the time. The same year, he received a five-month conditional sentence for robbery, two counts of assault, two counts of illegal threats, and concealment of a crime, also committed as a juvenile.

In spring 2025, he was convicted of assault against the woman who later died in the Kerimäki fire; the couple had been in a relationship at the time. The assaults occurred in Mikkeli and Savonlinna between 2022 and 2023. In April 2025, he was also fined for driving without a licence.