On Wednesday afternoon, the representative of the prosecutor's office requested six years' imprisonment for the accused. The prosecution was not opposed to a partial probationary suspension, with the judicial constraint of additional monitoring.
The defendant was accused of raping a 14 year old girl in Noertzange two years ago, as well as showing the victim pornographic images on his mobile phone.
The prosecution said the offences committed were extremely serious. Initially the defendant rejected the charges of rape and sharing child pornography, but later admitted to the acts during the second court session. The girl was said to be uncomfortable without her mother present at the time of the crime. The accused was said to have massaged her neck, before moving his hands lower and eventually raping her, taking advantage of the situation.
During the hearing, the defendant apologised for his acts and claimed he had only wanted to massage the girl's neck to relieve a headache. He had not set out to rape the girl, but claimed it had "just happened" after she did not protest the massage. He refuted the accusation of showing her pornography, stating the victim had peeked at it herself. The accused's lawyer, Lynn Frank, argued that her client did not understand what rape was, and was not aware of the scope of his actions and their consequences. The man, who has a mental deficit, did not interpret the situation correctly, but he did not want to harm the teenager, nor did he resort to violence. The lawyer said it was not necessary to retain the distribution of photos of child pornography, but argued against a prison sentence in favour of modifying the capacity of judgment.
The verdict is expected on 2 December.
