Court rejects attempted murder charge, convicts prisoner of aggravated assault

A prisoner serving a life sentence for murder in a transit cell has been convicted of aggravated assault over an attack at Riihimäki Prison in June 2025. Kanta-Häme District Court sentenced Perttu Oskari Pyynönen to two years and four months in prison, Yle reported.

The court rejected the prosecution’s charge of attempted murder. Prosecutors had sought a prison term of at least eight years. Their alternative charges were attempted manslaughter and, as a final alternative, aggravated assault.

Pyynönen attacked another prisoner during breakfast distribution, striking him six times with a homemade weapon made from exercise equipment and a piece of broken coffee pot glass. The victim received first aid from a prison guard and was taken to hospital, where glass fragments lodged in his body had to be removed in surgery.

Pyynönen admitted making the weapon and hitting the victim but denied intending to kill him. He said he was guilty only of basic assault. The victim said he did not know Pyynönen beforehand; they had spoken the day before the attack about a mutual acquaintance. According to the victim, Pyynönen became angry when that person was mentioned.

Pyynönen, born in 1998, is serving a life sentence at Vantaa Prison for a murder in a transit cell and aggravated rape. The district court’s ruling is not final.