A man from Porvoo was convicted of sexual harassment. It is one of the first sentences that have been handed down for new types of harassment crimes.
Thirty a man from Porvoo has been sentenced to fines for sending a penis picture and other forms of harassment in the district court of Itä-Uusimaa.
The man hardly knew when he sent the picture of his penis that he would somehow become a part of Finland's criminal history. It is the first, or at least one of the first cases, in which sending a picture of a penis has resulted in a conviction for sexual harassment in the courts.
The verdict was handed down on January 4.
Porvoo man sent one picture of an erect penis with clothes on and another picture without clothes to a woman last spring at night. In addition, the man wrote text messages to the same recipient in which he described sexual activity.
The convicted man previously worked under the woman. They also work as partners in the same company.
According to the district court, the man's conduct met the hallmarks of sexual harassment. According to the court, it appears from the messages presented as evidence that the woman did not have the consent to send the messages and pictures.
The man was fined 40 days. They add up to a total of 9,240 euros to be paid to him.
The judgment is not yet final.
Sexual legislation on harassment was renewed at the beginning of last year.
Before the law reform, harassment could only be committed by touching. Thus, before the law reform, the behavior of the Porvoo man would not have met the hallmarks of sexual harassment.
According to the Criminal Code, since the beginning of last year, sexual harassment can be committed in many ways other than touching.
Law reform since, clearly more sexual harassments have been reported to the police than before.
In addition to touching and sending unwanted pictures of penises, criminal reports have been made for, among other things, showing the genitals in a public place and harassment with gestures and expressions.
Although preliminary investigations have been started on the new forms of the crime of harassment, according to the HS report, not many sentences have been handed down.
At least one such judgment has been given in Varsinais-Suomi. There, a slightly over 30-year-old man was sentenced for sending a sexually suggestive Instagram message to a 15-year-old girl.
In the message, the man verbally described sexual intercourse with the girl and told what he would like the girl to do.
The man received a 40-day fine, just like the man from Porvoo. The amount to be paid is a total of 240 euros, which is considerably less than for a better-income Porvoo man.
According to Statistics Finland, a total of 1,230 suspected cases of sexual harassment came to the attention of the authorities last year. At the time of the previous legislation, in the second year there were clearly fewer cases, 740.
In the law no longer exhaustively defines all possible ways of committing harassment.
In terms of the fulfillment of the signs of harassment, it is essential that the act is of the same seriousness as touching and that it can be considered to violate another person's right to self-determination. The act is punishable only if it is intentional.
According to the government's bill, you can be guilty of verbal harassment, for example, by following another person and at the same time suggesting sexual intercourse. Harassment can also be considered a situation where the perpetrator suggests to another person in a public place that they engage in sexual intercourse for a fee.
In working life, an unfounded inquiry about another's sexual life can meet the hallmarks of harassment. Harassment can also be committed by, for example, taking a picture under a skirt without permission or secretly watching another undress from a doorway.
#Sexual #harassment #man #Porvoo #fined #thousands #euros #sending #picture #penis
