A middle-aged man abused and insulted a little boy on a Tallinn cruise.
The racist incident took place on the Tallinn ship in July 2020. Petteri Paalasmaa
A little boy was the victim of shocking treatment on a Tallinn cruise.
An 8-year-old boy was waiting for his mother in the bathroom, when a middle-aged man who met him in a narrow corridor stomped on his foot. It was a warm July day, the child was wearing socks.
– Be careful nigger, the man said and went out onto the deck.
The child burst into tears.
When the child’s mother came out of the bathroom and heard what had happened, she called the ship’s guards. The intoxicated man was found on the ship’s deck.
According to the child’s mother, “the man had just rudely replied that he doesn’t apologize to black people” and continued to use racist language. In addition to the boy, the man also nominated a bystander who was involved in clarifying the situation.
Intent to offend
The incident took place in July 2020. The case was discussed in the Helsinki district court more than two years later.
A man in his fifties denied stepping on the child’s foot. The man admitted that he had called the boy a negro, but “without the intention of offending”. He also denied calling the bystander a derogatory term.
The District Court of Helsinki considered it proven that the man had used a racist word.
– From the context in which the word in question has been used, it appears that its use has had no other function than the purpose of insulting, the district court stated.
The district court convicted the man of assault. He was ordered to compensate the boy 500 euros for pain and mental suffering.
The two defamation charges were dropped, but the man did not avoid compensation. The district court ordered the man to pay 2,000 euros to the boy and 1,000 euros to the bystander.
The Court of Appeal reduced the compensation
The man appealed the sentence to the Court of Appeal.
The Helsinki Court of Appeal ruled that the man must have noticed the boy in the narrow corridor before stepping on his foot. The court concluded that the act was intentional and its motive was racist.
– Taking into account the racist motive of the act and its targeting of the child, the court of appeal considers that there is no reason to reduce the sentence imposed by the district court in the case, the court of appeal stated.
Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal considered the compensation awarded by the District Court to be too high. It reduced compensation for suffering in such a way that the man must compensate the son for the suffering caused by defamation 1,100 euros and the bystander 750 euros.
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