In a remote hearing, on March 23, 2021, the General Court of Debrecen announced a verdict in the case of a 25-year-old accused who had committed a crime against two children in Hajdú-Bihar County.
The court of second instance reversed the judgment of the Berettyóújfalu District Court of 9 November 2020 in criminal proceedings initiated against the defendant.
The tribunal commuted the 8-year, 6-month prison sentence for a defendant with no criminal record to 7 years in prison, while his 10-year ban from public affairs was commuted to 8 years.
According to the facts legally established by the court, at the time of the crime, a 21-year-old man had sexual intercourse with two children, one of whom was 9 and her brother was 7 years old, in a village of Hajdú-Bihar between the beginning of September 2016 and 13 October 2016. The young man already knew the brother and sister. The Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office became aware of the case in February 2018, after which a report was made to the police. The examination of witnesses and the forensic expertise obtained in the case confirmed the commission of the crime, which was accepted by the court. The case only came to light later because the two kids wanted to forget what had happened, so they did not talk about it with their parents, then the office assigned a child protection guardian to them due to their difficult family circumstances, and placed them in foster care where they talked about what had happened to them. The guardianship authority then became aware of the case.
In his reasoning, Dr. Péter Kovács, the chairman of the penal council, said that the court of first instance complied with the rules of procedure, fulfilled its obligation to investigate clients, its facts were well-founded, but did not take into account two decisive factors.
He stressed that the district court did not take into account the lapse of time in its verdict, although the decisive factor was that almost five years had passed since the crime was committed. Nor was it assessed in the mitigating circumstances that the accused was a young adult at the age of 21 at the time of the offense, whose personality was still undeveloped.
In addition, according to the forensic expert, the accused, is on the verge of weakness, but is not in an abnormal state of mind, however, this does not absolve him from responsibility.
The purpose of punishment is to prevent society from preventing the perpetrator from committing even another crime. With this in mind, the tribunal held that the 7-year prison sentence imposed on a defendant with no criminal record was proportionate and that the sanction had a sufficient deterrent effect. The decision of the court is final.
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