Two men arrested over night assault against Kurdish family

print this

Police have arrested two men under suspicions of aggravated disturbance of domestic peace in the Kouvola region of south-eastern Finland. In the early hours of Saturday morning, a group of several men caused damage to a detached house owned by an entrepreneur of foreign origin in the centre of Valkeala.
      The arrested men are 20 to 30 years in age and they have a background of minor offences. They were not what are usually described as "known to the police", however, according to Inspector Juha Paukkunen of the Kouvola Police Department.
      The men are suspected of disturbance of domestic peace, illegal threats, and vandalism at the least.
      The police are still to interview some more people. Two main incidents are being investigated. One offence was committed at around 3.00 a.m., and another around 5.00 a.m. These two crimes have been carried out by partly different perpetrators.
     
The men broke some windows of the house, car windscreen and windows, and structures in the yard, and they tried to break the front door with an axe.
      During the attack, a nine-member family of Kurdish origin was inside the house.
      Last summer, a boy belonging to this family was involved in a petrol station brawl, and the legal proceedings are soon to get under way in the district court. However, the police say that the arrested men were not involved in that incident.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  The racist attack that never was (28.11.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat