Lappeenranta man convicted again of serious child sex crimes

A man in his early 20s from Lappeenranta has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison for sexual offences against minors, Yle reports. The South Karelia District Court issued the sentence on Thursday.

The man was convicted of two rapes of a child, possessing several images depicting children sexually, sexually abusing a child and several sexual assaults on a child. He committed the offences during spring 2026.

There were six victims, aged 12 to 15 at the time. They came from different parts of southern and central Finland. The man contacted them on Snapchat, asked them to send pictures of themselves and recorded some of the rapes.

In court, he said he believed the victims were over 16 and that the acts were consensual. The verdict can be appealed.

The man was previously convicted by the same court in 2023 of several sexual offences against children and possessing an image that violated sexual decency. Those offences took place between 2019 and 2021, when he was a minor. Yle is not publishing his name to protect the victims’ privacy.