A 22-month jail sentence, suspended for three years, was imposed by the Thessaloniki Trial Plenary Court on a father who sexually harassed his 17-year-old daughter and threatened to kill her if she did not withdraw the complaint.

The accused was found guilty of domestic assault on sexual dignity on a serial basis and attempted domestic violence on a serial basis, while the court did not recognise any mitigating circumstances.

According to the indictment, his acts were committed in June 2019, and the complaint was made by the minor’s aunt and partner of the accused for 12 years, when she saw them on the balcony of the apartment during the alleged act.

Specifically, the woman complained to the police that in the evening hours of June 5, 2019, while her 17-year-old niece (victim), her brother and a friend were in the apartment, the defendant engaged in sexual acts with his daughter.

“I went out on the balcony and I saw my niece with her pants down and he had his hand on her waist, I didn’t see if he was naked. I said ‘well done, I knew it’, I suspected he had great love and affection for her. I asked what he was doing and started cursing, I grabbed his penis and saw he had an erection. I took my niece and took her to the Hippocratic Hospital to see if they had sexual intercourse,” the woman had told police, with her statement read out in court as she did not show up to testify.

According to the indictment, the following day the man went to his minor daughter’s room and asked her if she wanted to continue the sex act from where they left off when they were noticed by the 17-year-old’s aunt and partner, while trying to reassure her. Moreover, after the complaint he threatened her saying “I will kill you and we won’t even find your DNA” wanting to force her to withdraw her statement.

Five years after the controversial incident, taking the witness stand, the victim testified in court that her complaint was false and that she was forced to lie as she was threatened by her aunt in order to get rid of her father and force her to work as a prostitute in a brothel. The 24-year-old woman, now 24, claimed that it was her aunt who urged her to approach her father sexually and acting on a plan, caught them during the alleged act on the balcony.

“I kiss my children on the mouth – she approached me sexually”

In his plea, the accused denied the charges and admitted to kissing the 17-year-old girl and her brother on the mouth as he believed it was not a bad and unethical thing to do. “That day we were chatting on the balcony. My daughter went into the house, talked to her aunt and again went out with sexual intent. She came up to me and I pushed her. I wouldn’t do such a thing, especially on the balcony. At that time her aunt came in. It was a well-laid plan because he had an interest and wanted to put her to work, to work in a brothel,” the accused claimed.

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He then admitted to kissing his children on the mouth. “I kiss them on the mouth, is that bad? Of course it’s not appropriate but I don’t think it’s something bad or erotic. I’ve seen a lot of mums and dads kissing their kids on the mouth. Haven’t you ever done it?” he said addressing the judges.

His guilt was also recommended by the prosecutor of the court, stressing that the hearing and the evidence showed that the accused committed the acts of which he is accused.

It is noted that the case was initially postponed in order to follow the institution of criminal mediation, however, because the accused did not attend the programme, as he should have done, the case file was removed from the file and the case was adjudicated.