Czech Constitutional Court rejects appeal of father convicted of rape

The Czech Constitutional Court has rejected the complaint of a man convicted of sexually abusing his own daughter. He received 5.5 years in prison: the Prague Municipal Court reduced the original seven-year sentence, but the convicted man still tried to challenge the verdict.

What the court established

According to the prosecution, from autumn 2023 the father committed acts of sexual violence against his schoolgirl daughter at their home. At first he touched the girl, and in December 2023, despite her refusal, he had sexual intercourse with her. This continued until the summer of 2024, when the man was taken into custody.

The prosecution says the abuse was repeated about four times a month. The victim developed psychological problems and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

A few months later, the man locked himself in a room with his second daughter, who was ten, undressed and asked whether she wanted to be intimate with him. The girl clearly refused, and he let her out, saying she was still little.

Sentence reduced, complaint rejected

The district court classified the acts as sexual abuse of a child, sexual intercourse between relatives and endangering a child's upbringing, and imposed seven years in prison. The appeals court, the Municipal Court in Prague, found the punishment too harsh and reduced it to 5.5 years. It did so even though the convicted man was on probation under a previous sentence at the time of the crimes.

The man claimed that his daughters had given false testimony and that the justice system had violated his rights, and he turned to the Constitutional Court. The panel of rapporteur judge Jan Svatoň rejected his arguments. According to the judge, the applicant did not name a single circumstance suggesting a violation of his fundamental rights, and the courts had examined the case properly and justified their decisions.

The argument about the right to a fair trial did not work either. As Svatoň explained, this right guarantees that a case is heard by an independent and impartial court, but it does not guarantee that the decision will match the expectations of a party to the proceedings. The court published the verdict in recent days.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz