The Koskela teen murder was a homicide that occurred in Koskela, Helsinki, Finland on 4 December 2020. The victim was a 16-year-old, the name of whom has yet to be released by Finnish law enforcement due to privacy regulations. The police charged three juvenile males, all aged 16, with the murder. They were incarcerated in the Helsinki District Court on 10 December. The perpetrators and the victim knew each other beforehand.Rakennusmies löysi pojan ruumiin töihin tullessaan Helsingin Koskelassa – uhri oli tuttu murhasta epäillyille kolmelle 16-vuotiaalle pojalle, Yle Uutiset. Accessed on 2 January 2021. According to the police, the motive for the act was to punish the victim for some earlier activity.Poliisi on selvittänyt Koskelan teinisurman motiivin, Iltalehti 27 January 2021. Accessed on 12 February 2021.Poliisi kertoo Koskelan epäillystä teinimurhasta ja sitä edeltävästä nöyryyttävästä väkivallasta – epäilty kiusaaminen oli jatkunut vähintään kuukausia, Ilta-Sanomat 18 December 2020. Accessed on 2 January 2021.
The prosecutors requested a sentence of nine years in prison without parole for the accused.Yle seuraa Koskelan surman oikeudenkäyntiä – syyttäjä: "Ihan kaikkea he eivät muistaneet niin tarkasti kuin esitutkinnassa on kerrottu", Yle Uutiset. Accessed on 4 March 2021. The district court gave an intermediary sentence on 24 March 2021, sentencing the accused to psychiatric assessment.Salminen, Solmu; Halonen, Antti: Koskelan teinimurhasta syytetyt määrättiin mielentilatutkimukseen – asianajaja: "Mikä sitten on lopputulos, se on toinen kysymys", Iltalehti 24 March 2021. Accessed on 25 March 2021.
The final verdict was given on September 3, 2021 in the Helsinki District Court, where the three defendants received prison sentences of 10 years one month, 9 years 2 months, and 8 years 2 months respectively.
Background The victim of the homicide was a 16-year-old boy, who was described as loyal, nice, gifted and personal, but also as very lonely and quiet. He had met two of the accused already in kindergarten and went to school together with them in Käpylä. He met the third member of the accused in high school. One of the victim's schoolmates described the victim and one of the accused as being best friends during primary school. The victim had, however, suffered extensive bullying since primary school, at the hands of both the accused as well as students. The bullying had begun as name-calling and insulting, but later progressed to physical violence. In his last years the victim had suffered from severe depression and his circle of friends had shrunk.Ylen tiedot: Viranomaiset pettivät Koskelan surman uhrin – lastenkoti ei etsinyt poikaa vaikka vanhemmat pyysivät, koulusta paljastui puutteita, Yle Uutiset 12 February 2021. Accessed on 12 February 2021.Koskelan henkirikoksen uhria kiusattiin alakoulusta lähtien – Koulukaverit kertovat, millaisia uhriin päiväkodissa tutustuneet epäillyt ovat, Helsingin Sanomat 15 January 2021. Accessed on 12 February 2021.
The victim's parents long sought for help for their son, and in autumn 2020 the victim was placed in a state care in Helsinki per his parents' request.
Before the homicide, the accused had robbed the victim in August 2020. The robbery had involved violence and the victim was robbed of property and money. The incident was reported to the police in September.Koskelan henkirikoksen esitutkinta on valmistunut, Police of Finland. Accessed on 16 February 2021. The accused had repeatedly assaulted the victim since summer.Poliisitutkinta maalaa synkkääkin synkemmän kuvan Koskelan murhaepäilyn taustoista – näin omat "kaverit" alistivat ja mursivat uhrin traagisin seurauksin, MTV Uutiset 31 January 2021. Accessed on 16 February 2021. According to the police, the killers viewed the victim as submissive and treated him like a "rag doll" they could abuse. The theme of the assault and homicide was a "punishment game" connected to the bullying.Mäkinen, Rami: Poliisi: Koskelan 16-vuotias uhri oli tekijöille räsynukke", Ilta-Sanomat 22 February 2021. Accessed on 22 February 2021.
Timeline The victim and the perpetrators had been at the birthday party of one of the perpetrators near the Koskela Hospital on Friday 4 December.Kaisa Paastela: Synttärijuhlien karmea loppu – Tällainen on alue, jossa 16-vuotiaan raaka murha tapahtui, Helsingin Uutiset 9 December 2020. Accessed on 2 January 2021. The perpetrators had planned in advance to force the victim to drink alcohol. At first the four spent the evening quietly.Palmén, Tiia: Koskelan kuulustelut julki: Lapsuudenystävät kertovat, että uhri itki ja pyysi lopettamaan – lopuksi pahoinpitelijät kättelivät toisiaan, MTV3 22 February 2021. Accessed on 24 February 2021. At some point the three boys began to assault the partially defenseless fourth boy. The victim begun to cry, asked the perpetrators to stop and tried to stop the blows with his arms, but did not participate in violence himself.
The victim was assaulted in various locations close to the hospital.Koskelan murhaepäilystä uutta tietoa: epäillyt kuvasivat videoita väkivallasta, 16-vuotias uhri oli puolustuskyvytön, Yle Uutiset. Accessed on 2 January 2021. According to the police, the violence lasted three to four hours and was humiliating to the victim: the perpetrators forced the victim to drink an entire bottle of Vergi vodka, hit him on various parts of his body very violently with their fists and a metal pipe and spit and urinated on him. The victim had become severely inebriated from the alcohol.Salminen, Solmu: Poliisin Koskela-asiakirjat julki – tässä oli lapsuudenystävän selitys 16-vuotiaan kuolemalle: "Tein tosi tyhmästi ja löin sitä", Iltalehti 22 February 2021. Accessed on 22 February 2021.Koskelan teinimurhasta syytetyt viestittelivät veriteon jälkeen: "Sen tiedän, että me ei päästä tästä ilman seuraamuksia", Ilta-Sanomat 17 February 2021. Accessed on 17 February 2021. One of the boys strangled the victim, tried to break his arm and jumped on him from on top of a crate.
A woman who had been walking at the Koskela Hospital area at eight o'clock in the evening had seen two of the accused and the victim, who was clearly in a bad way. One of the perpetrators was absent at the time and returned later to continue to participate in the violence. They were also seen at 8pm by a younger woman who was walking in a park near the hospital. She also saw three boys, one of whom was lying down. The woman had shouted to ask what was happening, to which the boys had replied that there was no problem and asked the woman to leave. The woman could not judge the situation herself as it was too dark. She telephoned her elder sister to come and judge the situation. The women deemed the situation to be threatening and did not intervene. The boys moved to the other side of the hospital and dragged the boy, who had been lying down, holding him by the shoulders.Halonen, Antti: Koskelan teinimurhakäräjät: Todistaja puuttui poikien touhuun ja osapuolet huusivat toisilleen – "He sanoivat, ettei ole mikään hätänä", Iltalehti 19 February 2021. Accessed on 2 March 2021.
The accused recorded their act on video with their mobile phones,Koskelan murhatutkinta valmistui: 16-vuotiaat epäillyt pitivät sadistisesti hauskaa uhrin kustannuksella – uhria pahoinpideltiin samassa paikassa useana perjantaina, Yle Uutiset 27 January 2021. Accessed on 12 February 2021.IS: Koskelan teinimurhasta epäillyt kuvasivat uhrista kiusaamisvideoita jo ennen surmapäivää, MTV Uutiset 31 December 2020. Accessed on 2 January 2021. demonstrating how they exploded a firecracker between the victim's buttocks. At the end of the video all three perpetrators laughed loudly and shook hands with each other. In the video, the victim was lying on his side with his trousers pulled down and could not move at all. As the assault continued, the victim could no longer speak but to tried to raise his hands on his face to shield himself from the blows. As he was being strangled, he tried to pull the perpetrator's hand downward to get air. The most violent of the perpetrators later revealed he had felt an inexplicable sense of rage during the assault, which had only gone away when he was walking back home.
The victim's face was covered in injuries when the perpetrators started to carry him to the next location. They inspected the victim using the flashlights on their telephones. At about 11pm, the perpetrators went to a grocery store to shop and did not call for help for the victim. The victim was left lying on the ground, with clear injuries to his face, and was unable to walk. He managed to move but only a short distance. The victim died a couple of hours later.
Two of the perpetrators came the next day to see the body, which was still at the same location. The perpetrators discussed the matter repeatedly over the weekend and, despite expressing shock, planned to hide or destroy the body. They also planned to clean the body with bleachKoskelan teinisurma: Poliisi epäilee taustalla pitkään jatkunutta "vakavaa kiusaamista" – epäillyt kävivät katsomassa uhria seuraavana päivänä, MTV Uutiset 18 December 2020. Accessed on 22 February 2021. in order to remove DNA evidence and fingerprints.Mattila, Sanni: Näin Koskelan murhasyytetyt puhuivat uhrinsa ruumiin hävittämisestä – yksi googlasi sadevesitynnereitä ja käski peitellä jäljet valkaisuaineella, MTV3 27 February 2021. Accessed on 3 March 2021.
The victim's body remained on the murder site over the weekend until Monday 7 December, when it was discovered by a construction worker at eight o'clock in the morning. The body was partially naked. The man first thought the boy was unconscious and called the emergency help centre, which advised him and his colleague to start to revive the boy. The revival was stopped when the body was found to be cold and stiff. Soon, the emergency services arrived at the scene and questioned the discoverer.Auramies, Jukka: Näin Koskelassa surmatun pojan sattumalta löytänyt rakennusmies kommentoi näkyä: "Siellä makaa, yllään vain huppari ja nilkkoihin vedetyt kalsarit", MTV3 22 February 2021. Accessed on 24 February 2021. On the same morning one of the perpetrators told his mother about the assault, and she called the police immediately.
Investigation and trial During the police investigation all three of the perpetrators denied having planned to kill the victim. In February 2021 the perpetrators were charged with murder, robbery, incitement to robbery and nine counts of assault.Koskelan teinisurma: Kaikki kolme poikaa syytteeseen murhasta, Iltalehti 5 February 2021. Accessed on 7 February 2021. The victim's parents demanded the perpetrators be sentenced to 12 years in prison. Two of them pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and manslaughter, while the third boy only pleaded guilty to assault.Hujanen, Miikka: Koskelan teinimurhasta epäillyn äiti ilmoitti asiasta poliisille – epäilty kertoi myös tyttöystävälleen, Ilta-Sanomat 22 February 2021. Accessed on 24 February 2021.
The trial took place in a secure room at the Helsinki District Court on 17 February 2021. A lawyer representing the victim's family asked that the trial be wholly held behind closed doors. Conversely, the prosecutors demanded as public a trial as possible due to the severity of the crimes and the great public interest in the matter. The chairman of the court announced that the public element of the trial will be assessed separately for each charge. The charges were tried in chronological order, starting with a robbery in August and ending with the homicide on 4 December.Ranta, Niko: Koskelan teinimurhan oikeudenkäynti alkoi – syytetyt pojat pälyilivät yleisöä, Ilta-Sanomat 17 February 2021.