The daughter woke up to the father lying with her and touching her sex and breasts.
The district court completely acquitted the father of sexual abuse, but the verdict was appealed.
The Court of Appeal has now upheld the acquittal – as the father suffers from sexsomnia and it cannot be ruled out that the act was committed in his sleep, reports Today’s Law.
The young woman was at her father’s house in Dalsland in the summer of 2022. They fell asleep in the same double bed, but in the middle of the night she woke up to the father, who is in his 40s, curled up around her.
He then allegedly touched her sex and breasts before the woman jumped out towards the edge of the bed to escape the father.
Shortly thereafter, the father went to the toilet – and then returned to bed and once again laid down in the spoon with the daughter.
Was released – despite the fact that the woman was judged to be credible
The incident was reported to the police and in March last year the district court’s verdict came. Despite the fact that the young woman was judged to be credible and it was determined that the act “in an objective sense is to be judged as sexual abuse”, the father was acquitted.
The reason was that it could not be proven that the father was awake at the time of the crime.
The father has not disputed the daughter’s information, but has denied any wrongdoing. In questioning, he has explained the incident by saying that he acted in the same way towards his ex-wife and current separate house. A person close to the father testified about the father’s shock when he was informed of the police report, which the district court judged to mean that he had no intention of the act.
Sleep expert: It is likely that the father suffers from sexsomnia
The prosecutor then chose to appeal the verdict to the Court of Appeal, partly because the president of the district court disagreed and wanted to sentence the father.
In the Court of Appeal, the father relied on new evidence, where a certified sleep expert concluded that the father committed the act in an unconscious state caused by sexsomnia.
The Court of Appeal followed the same line as the district court and acquitted the father, as it cannot be ruled out that he suffered from a sleep disorder at the time of the incident.
“The action has been less advanced and it has been a very short sequence of events. With this in mind, the Court of Appeal considers that it is beyond reasonable doubt that he committed the act with intent,” the judgment reads.
The Court of Appeal disagreed
However, the Court of Appeal strongly disagreed. The Court of Appeal lawyer and a juror wanted to convict the father.
They said that the verdict was based on the father’s own information about sexsomnia and that there were no “objectively ascertainable circumstances that based the assessments”.