Antti Sitavuori

Case record

People

• Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori — Finland; also known as Jammu Siltavuori and Jammu-setä ("Uncle Jammu"); accused and convicted in connection with the murder of two 8-year-old girls.
• Päivi-Maria Hopiavuori — victim; age 8; murdered.
• Tanja Johanna Pirinen — victim; age 8; murdered.
• Unnamed five-year-old girl — prior victim of a rape conviction.
• Jouko Turkka — author of the novel Häpeä.

Timeline

• March 3, 1989 — Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori picked up Päivi-Maria Hopiavuori and Tanja Johanna Pirinen for a car ride from Myllypuro, a neighbourhood in Helsinki.
• December 14, 1989 — Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori was sentenced to 15 years in prison with parole possibility after 10 years; he was committed to Niuvanniemi mental hospital in Kuopio for criminal-psychiatric reasons.
• January 31, 2000 — On his third parole hearing, the Prison Court released him on strictly supervised parole.
• 2007 — The administrative court of Kuopio reaffirmed the involuntary commitment to Niuvanniemi mental hospital.
• March 9, 2012 — Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori died.

Background

Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori was born in 1927 and was also described with a birth date of October 29, 1926 in Joensuu, Finland. He was known as Jammu Siltavuori and Jammu-setä ("Uncle Jammu").

The offence

Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori murdered and burned two 8-year-old girls, Päivi-Maria Hopiavuori and Tanja Johanna Pirinen. He burned the bodies shortly after the murders.

He picked up both girls for a car ride from Myllypuro, a neighbourhood in Helsinki, on March 3, 1989.

Prior convictions

Before the 1989 murders, Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori had been earlier convicted for:

• raping a five-year-old girl
• sexual harassment
• attempted murder

He was also described as having been convicted to life imprisonment already in the 1950s or 1960s, and later paroled.

Other details

Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori had built a self-made jail complete with cells, barred windows and small toilets in Paltamo, Kainuu. There was no evidence that he built it for keeping the children hostage.

Jouko Turkka’s novel Häpeä (“Shame”) addressed him. Turkka said:

"Jammu Siltavuori is the most hated man in Finland. No presidential candidate would want to have his vote. The candidate would pay money if Jammu would publicly announce that he would vote some other candidate. Church or any other religious organization would reject him even if the God itself would indicate that Jammu's sins are forgiven. Nobody wants anything from him, no money, no apologies, no begs for forgiveness. He is the most important issue in cultural life of Finland. Anyone who would express any kind of mercy would undersign his own death penalty."

Sentencing and parole

For the two murders in 1989, Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori was sentenced to 15 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years. The sentence was imposed because a mental health examination legally found him to be partially insane. If that had not been the case, he would have been again sentenced to life imprisonment.

The Finnish Supreme Court later ruled that a life sentence was overall inappropriate in his case, based on additional mitigating factors. The reviewed sentence remained the usual determinate sentence of 15 years with parole possibility after 10 years.

After 10 years had elapsed, his first and second parole hearings in the Finnish Prison Court were unsuccessful. After serving one more year in jail, the Prison Court released him on strictly supervised parole on January 31, 2000 after his third parole hearing.

Aftermath

After the January 31, 2000 release on strictly supervised parole, Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori was immediately involuntarily committed to Niuvanniemi mental hospital in Kuopio for criminal-psychiatric reasons.

The involuntary commitment was reaffirmed in 2007 by the administrative court of Kuopio, on the basis that if he was released, he would be a serious security risk.

While at Niuvanniemi, there was an attack on him that injured him so that he could not walk and had to stay in a wheelchair. His release was described as unlikely.

Antti Veikko Ilmari Siltavuori died on March 9, 2012.