Man avoids preventive detention for touching sleeping children

A 24-year-old man who entered homes in Roskilde and touched the feet of sleeping children will not face preventive detention, despite recommendations from the Danish National Board of Forensic Medicine (Retslægerådet).

Prosecutors had argued that the man posed such a danger to others that he should receive the indefinite sentence. However, the Eastern High Court rejected the demand, instead sentencing him to one year in prison, the Copenhagen Public Prosecutor announced Thursday.

The sentence is two months longer than the ruling handed down by the Roskilde District Court in October last year.

The man was convicted of violating the children’s privacy, disturbing domestic peace, and in one case, attempting to rape a child under 12. He has a prior conviction from 2023 for entering private homes to touch children’s feet, involving more than 30 offenses, for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.