A 62-year-old man was sentenced to three years and two months in prison in Zurich for touching teenagers aged 14 to 17. His sentence is commuted to inpatient therapy in a closed environment. The accused was active on trains between Zurich and Bern.
The Zurich District Court on Tuesday found the accused guilty of sexual coercion to commit sexual acts with children, attempted sexual acts with children and sexual harassment. The Court also combined the sentence imposed with inpatient therapy to be followed during the execution of the sentence, as well as expulsion from Swiss territory for five years.
Repeat offender, even under investigation
The judges largely followed the prosecutor’s indictment. The defense had requested that the sentence not exceed 13 months suspended for acts and attempted acts of a sexual nature with children as well as for sexual harassment. She had rejected any inpatient therapy, favored the outpatient route and considered that the defendant should be released from his security detention.
The Sri Lankan father had already been convicted previously for similar acts. He even continued to crack down after the present criminal proceedings were opened against him.
Touching hidden under his jacket
To commit his sexual assaults between August 2020 and March 2024, the defendant systematically used the same stratagem. He would sit on the train next to a young teenager who was traveling alone and place his jacket on his own knees, so that his neighbor’s thighs were also covered.
-Out of sight of others, he then touched the boy’s thighs and genitals through the pants. In this way, he caused at least seven victims.
Hand in the pants of a frozen victim
Often, it took a moment for the teen to realize what was happening to them and push the abuser’s hand away. In one case, the defendant even watched a pornographic video on his smartphone which he oriented so that the 14-year-old teenager, whom he was abusing next to him, was confronted with the images.
In January 2023, one of the sixty-year-old’s victims froze, out of fear and disgust, at what was happening to him. This teenager failed to defend himself. The accused put his hand into the boy’s underwear and only stopped the touching when he got off the train in Olten (SO).
/ATS
