'Eno' charged with dozens of sex crimes against minor girls

'Eno', the 64 year old man suspected of abusing minor girls for years in his Helsinki apartment has been charged by the prosecutors with dozens of sex crimes.

A suspected accomplice has been charged also in the case.

According to the data collected by the Police during the investigation, the suspected crimes occurred between 2006 and early this year at the man's apartment in Laajasalo (Helsinki), where the main suspect provided alcohol and drugs to his victims.

The investigators feared then that the number of girls abused could be very high and called for collaboration from the public in order to find other potential victims and clarify all the facts. By that time, the police believed at least 12 young girls had been abused.

The police appeal seems to have worked during the investigation phase: according to the information published today by the Finnish Broadcasting company (Yle), now in the case there are 19 female plaintiffs, almost all of them underage at the time the crimes were committed. Some of them are adults by now.

Suspects denied guilt

Against Eno -that's what the main suspect called himself for his victims- and his accomplice there are now dozens of charges. They include aggravated rape, aggravated sexual abuse, aggravated drug offences and possession of unlawful materials. Both suspects denied any guilt during the preliminary investigation..

In order to protect the victims, the prosecutors have requested the case to be heard behind closed doors and all the materials collected by the investigators to remain sealed.

The main suspect has been under arrest since early March. After the police asked the public for collaboration in late July, they received dozens of contacts within a week. Among them, there were several new potential victims.