MOD Larisa – Rape case at a party: The court decided the guilt of the 21-year-old

By Konstantinos Kontokostas

A five-year prison sentence – the appeal has a suspensive effect – was imposed today by the Larissa Mixed Jury Court on a 21-year-old man for the act of rape that took place at a coming-of-age party in Volos in December 2021.

The court decided by a majority the guilt of the accused who was arrested at the age of 18 after a complaint by a peer that he raped her at the particular party.

As he testified in the previous one hearing process the young lady, that evening had asked to change clothes and went down to a room in the basement at the suggestion of the host. She was also accompanied by the accused who proceeded with the act of rape and while his girlfriend had repeatedly emphasized that she wanted him to stop.

“Lies”

Today in court the defendant denied all charges. He described a normal sexual act in which the girl did not express any discomfort or anything to indicate that she did not consent to the act. The defendant testified that at the party he wanted to have sex with the girl and when the latter told him that he could go down to the room with her, he understood that the girl also wanted to have sex.

“I wouldn’t do something like that to any person,” said the defendant about the act attributed to him, while when asked by the court why the girl made the complaint, he replied that maybe she didn’t like it when those around her found out.

When the district attorney asked him if he wanted to say anything to the girl or her family who were in the audience today, the accused answered “a big why?”. In other words, the reason why the girl filed the complaint, stressing that what she reported was a lie.

The issue of consent

“We gave our children all the freedoms but along the way we didn’t teach them to manage those freedoms and their consequences.”

With this phrase, the prosecutor and head of the Larissa First Instance Prosecutor’s Office, Apostolos Tzamalis, began his speech, pointing out the difficult position in which both the accused and the victim find themselves, given their young age.

He then stated, among other things, that for this specific case there is a risk of “diverting the process to moral evaluations”, adding that there are two difficulties that have to do with the absence of an eyewitness and the issue of consent.

He analyzed what is required in the act of rape such as intercourse accompanied by the use of violence or the threat of violence and the lack of consent.

He stated that in this particular case the fact of intercourse is “undeniable”, adding that for the exercise of violence there is no objective evidence such as a forensic examination documenting physical injuries.

He then turned to the issue of consent. “As for the crucial point, that of consent, I cannot say with certainty in my conscience that there was an explicit statement of a clear and perceptible under the circumstances lack of consent for these acts” said the prosecutor and proposed the acquittal of the accused due to doubts.

Minority of Jurors

The court finally, after deliberating, decided the defendant’s guilt by a majority, 5-2, with two jurors in the minority and imposed a five-year prison sentence for the act of rape, accepting two mitigating circumstances.

The 21-year-old appealed and was released pending the hearing of the case in the appellate court.

Read also: Larisa Police Department: A 21-year-old man is on trial after a complaint about the rape of his peer at a party

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