After pleading guilty to raping a 17-year old Norwegian backpacker, three men have avoided jail time altogether after paying the sum of £21,000.
Dylan Djohan, 23, Ashwin Kumar, 23 and Walee Latif, 21 were accused of assaulting the young women while they were holidaying in Croatia, and all pleaded guilty to the offence.
The men, originally from Australia, allegedly forced the young woman into a bar toilet and committed the gang assault.
However they came to an agreement with the prosecutor to pay a fee of $31,594 – approximately £21,000 – to settle the case without any time spent behind bars.
Initially, the trio were sentenced to one-year jail term, but that was reduced to a good behaviour bond for five years.
After the incident in July last year, Croatian police kept hold of the offenders passports for six months in a bid to ensure they appeared in court later this month – but their lawyers managed to agree a deal that enabled the three accused to fly home with a conditional sentence.
Understandably, the public is outraged at the outcome.
Sanja Sarnarvka, a woman’s rights campaigner in Croatia has defended the victim’s decision to accept the fee in a bid to put the incident behind her and avoid a prolonged trial, but said:
"If they can afford it, those who are indicted will pay for the best lawyers, pay the damages and receive a minimum sentence or even go free. In a democratic state, everyone should have the same treatment, regardless of their wealth or assets."