The District Court of Helsinki sentenced the SM league ice hockey player for rape committed as a young person.
The District Court of Helsinki has convicted SM league hockey player Topi Rönni, 19, of rape.
The district court sentenced Rönni to a one-year suspended prison sentence. The judgment is not binding.
According to the court’s public release, Rönni raped a 16-year-old girl on the school graduation night. Rönni was 17 years old at the time of the crime, so he was sentenced as a young person.
The proceedings of the case began in the district court on February 27. The session was held behind closed doors. Rönni did not want to comment on the charge or the conversations he had with Tappara before the start of the hearing.
The news is updated.
Out of the World Cup team
Rönni, who plays for Tappara, has represented Finland’s youth national teams in several prestigious competitions and won the World Cup bronze medal for under-18s. In Tappara, he has won two Finnish championships.
Rönni had told his company about the suspected rape himself. When the matter became public in mid-October 2023, Tappara put Rönni aside from the team’s activities. A couple of weeks later, the center forward was allowed to return to his club’s activities.
– We take the suspected crime seriously, but we are waiting for the court hearing and will assess the player’s position only after that, CEO of Tamhockey Mika Aro said Tappara in a press release in November.
The Ice Hockey Federation, on the other hand, did not allow Rönni to participate in national team activities until the court’s decision. Rönni is a Calgary Flames second-round NHL booking for 2022. The club was not aware of the criminal suspicion during the booking ceremony.
– While the criminal legal process is ongoing, a person suspected of a crime cannot participate in national team activities, if the suspected crime is about a procedure that seriously violates another’s personal integrity or sexual autonomy, or another particularly serious criminal case, for which a prison sentence would probably be sentenced in the event that the procedure was attributed to the person.