Marian Kováč, a 41-year-old Slovak man, tried to prove in court that the sentence was too harsh. He argued that the act itself lasted "only a few dozen seconds" and that the victim supposedly did not express clear disagreement. The defense even asked to reclassify the crime to a milder charge – coercion into sexual intercourse.
The crime happened on the night of October 6, 2024, near the main train station in Brno. Kováč put a drunk woman in his car, promising to drive her home, and forced her into oral sex. The woman immediately went to doctors and the police – bruises were found on her body from how the attacker held her.
Judge Vlastimír Čech rejected the defense's arguments. The duration of the act, he said, is irrelevant, and the lack of consent was obvious from the circumstances. Kováč's previous convictions in Slovakia, particularly for violent crimes, were also an aggravating factor.
The final sentence from the Krajský soud v Brně (Regional Court in Brno):
- 4 years of imprisonment;
- a ban on entering the Czech Republic for 5 years.
The victim did not ask for compensation, although she was repeatedly informed of this possibility.
The case caused a significant stir in the Czech Republic – mainly due to the defense's attempt to measure the severity of the rape with a stopwatch. Court practice in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is clear on this: the decisive factor is the lack of consent, not the duration of the act or the victim's "behavior."
