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Eura brothers to be psychologically tested
- Yesterday the four young brothers, all residents of the western town of Eura, charged in the Rauma District Court with a series of exceptionally peculiar crimes were ordered to go for psychiatric examinations. It is quite rare that those accused of committing property crimes are sent for such tests, but the court believes that before sentencing the boys, it is important to clarify the 130 extremely peculiar robberies and the influence that the quartet's difficult childhood background has had on the crimes.
- A representative from the Social Welfare Board of Eura believes that the boys do not fit in with the image of a typical thief. They do not drink, smoke, and nor are they violent. The boys began stealing in order to achieve the same standard of living as the other young people around them.
- None of the 11 children of the family had actually sought welfare assistance from the municipality. Social authorities were unaware of the reason for this, as they were under the impression that someone from the family had been going to work.
- “If you are only 16 and have to think about how to support your parents, all you are left with is fear and hunger. These youths won't improve in prison, what they need is therapy”, said a social worker in court on Thursday.
- “All my life I have been penniless. Our father would take our child allowance for his own needs. He would go to Turku to find women, drink, live in a hotel and use all the family's money”, read the records of a police interview with one of the accused.
- One of the boys explained how he would make dinner for the children by mixing his own hand-picked berries with flour. The boys would collect clothes and goods which could be sold, such as returnable bottles, from the local dump, but even that money the father would often take.
- When the children's father would come home from his trips, he would eat in front of the children and ignore their requests for food by explaining that “a mouse has the hunger of a mouse and an elephant the hunger of an elephant”.
- One of the accused boys said that he used to get FIM 30 from the local parish in child assistance, but even that money was snatched by his father.
- Most of the siblings claimed that they had never celebrated Christmas and had never received any gift at Christmas, on their name-day, or on their birthday. The mother lived completely subject to the father, just like the children.
- Yesterday the court also handled the brothers' biggest job, the artful break-in of a bank in which the spoils exceeded FIM 700,000.
The background to the case can be found from yesterday's article:
Brothers charged with a colourful series of crimes
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 28.4.2000
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