Man found dead on ferry attacked woman in Tallinn on same day
A man found deceased on a Tallinn-Helsinki ferry Tuesday was found to have been the same individual who earlier that day had attacked a woman in Kalamaja, Delfi reported.
Finnish daily Iltalehti had previously reported that a person had died after falling from the vehicle deck of the Viking Line XPRS ferry, and that Finnish police were investigating the circumstances as a possible homicide.
Raigo Prants, head of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board's (PPA) Lääne-Harju investigation unit, said: "The man who attacked a woman yesterday on Vana-Kalamaja Street has been identified, unfortunately deceased."
Following that attack, the man had boarded the Viking XPRS 5:30 p.m. sailing to Helsinki's Katajanokka port, which reportedly arrived on schedule at 7:30 p.m. and was attended by emergency services after the man was witnessed to have fallen from a vehicle deck.
The PPA have said there is no reason to believe the man's death is a criminal matter or the result of any crime, adding that the man was already known to authorities in Estonia.
"He was an Estonian citizen born in 1992 who had previous contact with the police," Prants said, adding that while he obviously cannot now be questioned about Tuesday's incident in Kalamaja, "we have nevertheless tried to establish as much as possible about the events preceding the incident and the possible motivation."
The PPA were notified Tuesday morning that a woman out walking with her child had been attacked on Vana-Kalamaja tänav in the Kalamaja neighborhood of Põhja Tallinn.
The woman stated an "unknown man" had grabbed her from behind, with enough force for her to fall, though the man then fled the scene; the woman did not require medical assistance.
While the PPA was unable to find the man despite searches, it became clear that around 15 minutes before that attack, the same individual had jumped over a fence onto the grounds of a nearby Kalamaja kindergarten and demanded to speak with the kindergarten's director, claiming he was searching for his child. The man then left the scene after kindergarten staff said they were calling the police.
The PPA say the deceased has no connection to two other recent attacks in Tallinn, one in the Kristiine district on December 27 and one in Nõmme the day before. In the Kristiine case, a woman was grabbed, while in Nõmme a girl had been "harassed" on the Männiku cycle lane "by a stocky man in dark clothing, wearing a ski mask and leather gloves," at which point the girl fled.
The PPA also says the Kristiine and Nõmme incidents themselves are not suspected to have been carried out by the same individual.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
