In its judgment announced on March 1, 2023, the Berettyóújfalu District Court found the defendant guilty of assaulting a woman in Hajdú-Bihar county in December 2021. The woman’s child was also injured during the violent crime.
The first-instance court found the man guilty of the crime of sexual violence, the crime of attempted serious bodily harm, the crime of light bodily harm committed to injure a person unable to defend himself or express his will, the crime of disorderly conduct and the misdemeanor of trespassing. For this, the court sentenced him to cumulative punishment
He was sentenced to 5 years and 2 months in prison and banned from practicing public affairs for 6 years.
In addition, the court also ordered the subsequent enforcement of a previous 6-month prison sentence imposed by the Berettyóújfalu District Court. In the course of the proceedings, nearly HUF 2.9 million in criminal costs were incurred, which the defendant is obliged to pay to the state.
According to the verdict, on December 3, 2021, around 7:30 p.m., the victim was in the bathroom of her family home, and her 4-year-old daughter was in the children’s room. The woman then heard a door slam, so she went to see what happened. When he opened the bedroom door, she saw a strange young man in front of her, whom she had only known by sight in their village. The victim repeatedly questioned the then 23-year-old man about what he was doing in the house, but he did not receive an answer. In fear, the woman opened the front door and told the accused to leave the property. The man, who was in a drunken state and under the influence of drugs, did not comply with this but started towards the woman with slow steps. This created such a level of fear in the victim that she lifted her child off the ground and ran out of the house through the back door and into the street. The woman fled with her child, she did not turn back, she knew that the man was following her. At the parking lot at one of the intersections, the defendant finally caught up with the victim, who grabbed both of her shoulders and tried to pull her back. The woman tried to resist, but she fell in the process and although she was unable to stand up again, the defendant tried to pull her back again, so she fell again. The woman and her child were also injured during the attack.
When the terrified woman reached for her child, the accused put his right hand around the victim’s back, then reached into her pants and grabbed her genitals, while he covered her mouth with his left hand.
The loud cries for help were noticed by a man nearby, who quickly ran to help the woman. Upon noticing this, the accused got up and fled the scene.
During the incident, both the woman and her child were injured. In the case of the woman, a more serious injury could have occurred during the attack that would take more than eight days to heal, while the little girl suffered a minor injury.
Judge Dr. László Kiss took into account the defendant’s inebriated and intoxicated condition as an aggravating circumstance when justifying the sentence, as well as the persevering intent, which is also evident from the facts, as well as the unscrupulous manner of committing the crime. The court also took into account that the man had a criminal record and was on a probationary period of suspended imprisonment, as well as the fact that acts against disorderly conduct and bodily harm had increased to an extraordinary extent. At the same time, he assessed as a mitigating circumstance that the accused admitted to committing all crimes and showed remorse.
The court’s decision was acknowledged by both the prosecutor, the accused and his defense counsel, so it is legally binding.
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Picture: illustration.
