The Supreme Court of Iceland has rejected an appeal against continued police custody of a man suspected of trying to rape two women.
The man is accused of two attempted sexual assaults in December and will now remain in custody until May 9. Thanks to court orders, the police have been allowed to hold him since December 18.
According to Vísir, the man is believed to have attacked two women in quick succession in the early hours of Sunday December 13 in central Reykjavík. The charge sheet states that both women were injured and, according to their statements and those of witnesses, both escaped rape thanks only to the man coming under “outside interference”.
The case was brought before the Reykjavík District Court in February and the defendant pleaded not guilty. According to the state prosecutor, however, the man is “strongly suspected” to have been behind the attacks he is accused of. He could face up to 16 years in prison.
Court orders first permitted the man to be kept in custody for the interest of the ongoing investigation, but now he is continuing to be held on the basis that it is in the public interest.
