Appeal court keeps rape suspect in custody over flight risk

Iceland’s Court of Appeal has upheld the detention of a man charged with rape, ruling he must remain in custody until November 16 because he may flee the country, mbl.is reported.

The man was arrested when he arrived at Keflavik Airport on October 18. He had been wanted since January. The Reykjavik District Court found that he had tried to evade prosecution by leaving the country and hiding from authorities.

The Court of Appeal issued its decision on Wednesday, upholding the district court’s October 19 ruling. The man had asked for the detention order to be overturned, or alternatively for a travel ban to be imposed instead.

The District Prosecutor charged him on November 13 last year over an alleged rape at a woman’s home in the early hours of February 19, 2022. The indictment says he had sex with her without her consent and used unlawful force. It alleges that he ignored her repeated statements that she did not want to have sex and exploited his advantage and position in relation to her. The indictment says she could not resist because of an intellectual disability and suffered bruising to her neck.

According to the prosecution’s submission, the man partly admitted the offence during a police interview, acknowledging that he had sex with the woman without her consent. At the district court hearing on his detention, however, he denied acting as described in the indictment.

Authorities were unable to locate him after the indictment was issued so they could serve him with a summons, the indictment and a compensation claim. He did not attend a hearing on January 7, and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest. He was subsequently listed as wanted.

An examination of his travel records found details of three flights to and from Iceland booked in his brother’s name. The most recent was a flight out of the country on November 20 last year, one week after the indictment was issued. The booking was linked to the accused man’s email address, and prosecutors believed he had travelled using his brother’s name.

The man disputed that he posed a flight risk, arguing that his arrest upon returning to Iceland showed he was not trying to avoid prosecution. He also said the difficulty in locating him was connected to an immigration case rather than the criminal proceedings. The District Court rejected those arguments, noting in part that he had used a different name when he arrived in Iceland. A comparison of fingerprints confirmed that he was the man named in the indictment. The court was also told that he had previously used another name in Iceland.