Olomouc court sends young man to prison for raping 14-year-old friend

The High Court in Olomouc found guilty a young man who raped a 14-year-old friend in the spring of 2022 and rejected his appeal. The court deemed a suspended sentence insufficient: the young man will have to serve time in prison.

For the rape, as well as the production and other handling of child pornography and the use of a child to produce it, he faced up to five years in prison. But even before the regional court handed down its verdict, he committed two new sex crimes: rape and sexual violence. For these he has already received suspended sentences that have taken effect. That is what counted against him on appeal.

The young man sought an acquittal. He claimed the sex was consensual and that he did not know the girl’s age. The prosecutor also appealed: given the other crimes, he demanded an actual prison term. The court rejected the defendant’s appeal as unfounded.

“The defendant’s guilt has been clearly proven and there is no doubt about it. The evidence against him includes not only the victim’s testimony but also other evidence, among them witness statements and expert opinions. We agreed with the regional court’s conclusions,” explained Jiří Zougar, the presiding judge of the panel.

According to him, a suspended sentence is not suitable given all the circumstances of the case. “The defendant must be affected by the actual serving of a sentence. After the first rape, he committed another at the end of that same year, and the following year sexual violence as well. His criminal career did not end with the first offense; he continued it, and now it is time to stop it,” the judge said. He stressed that the young man is being punished in total for five crimes.

The case heard by the High Court dates to the spring of 2022. Under the pretext of leaving a scooter, the young man lured his 14-year-old friend into his parents’ apartment when no one was home, locked the door and wanted to have sex. The girl refused, so he slapped her and raped her. He filmed the incident and shared the recording on social media.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz