Helsinki District Court has sentenced a 44-year-old man to four years in prison on a charge of aggravated robbery in relation to a stabbing incident that occurred at Helsinki's central library Oodi in February this year.
In its ruling, the court dismissed the charge of attempted manslaughter against the defendant.
The four-year sentence was justified by the court as the man had previous convictions for various charges, including manslaughter. He was out on parole at the time of the incident, having been released from prison in September 2018 after serving about half of a nine-and-a-half year sentence.
A psychological assessment also found he posed a potential danger to the life, health and liberty of others.
A 26-year-old woman was sentenced to three years in prison, also on a charge of aggravated robbery, for her part in the same incident. The two defendants were reported to be a cohabiting couple.
The stabbing victim, a 27-year-old man, was fined for a drug offence charge.
The separate parties involved in the incident provided contradictory accounts of the events leading up to the stabbing.
The court heard that, according to the stabbing victim’s report, the pair tried to rob him while he was allegedly selling the opioid Subutex in the library’s toilets.
The defendants, in accounts that were largely consistent with each other, claimed the stabbing victim initially started the fight. The court heard there were no other eyewitnesses at the scene.
