Man convicted of sexual offences after filming children at home

A 38-year-old man has been convicted of multiple sexual offences involving children aged two to four and a six-year-old, after photographing and filming them in their homes. Yle reported that the Kanta-Häme District Court issued its ruling in September and that it is now final.

The offences took place in the Kanta-Häme region between 2018 and 2026. The man admitted most of the charges. The court convicted him of child sexual abuse, coercion into a sexual act, distributing and possessing images that violate sexual decency, distributing and possessing sexually explicit images of children, and aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

The court found that the man had photographed a naked or lightly dressed child aged two to four during a nappy change at the child’s home. It said the child was helpless because of their age, and that the man’s actions amounted to coercion into a sexual act. One of the three judges disagreed with that finding, saying a child’s young age alone did not establish helplessness. The dissenting judge would still have imposed an almost equally long prison sentence.

Investigators found 5,600 nude images on one of the man’s phones, about half of them sexually explicit images of children. A second phone contained nearly 1,000 more images and videos of this kind. His memory sticks held more than 2,000 images and over 500 videos. Some of the material was classified as aggravated. The man also shared images and videos in instant messaging groups.

The court found that the man had committed sexual acts against a six-year-old and filmed the child while visiting the child’s home. He had been invited to the family’s birthday celebration. The court said the child had developed a relationship of trust with him, having sat on his lap to watch television, and ruled that the offence was aggravated.

The man must pay the younger child 2,500 euros in compensation, plus interest, and the older child 3,500 euros, plus interest. The court said the younger child’s case involved filming but no physical acts. The compensation for the older child reflected physical touching and uncertainty about whether the recordings had been shared. The man must also pay a 120-euro crime victim surcharge.