Ljubljana - A 55-year-old man from Maribor will go to jail for three years and 10 months for having raped his daughter, who just turned 18 before the time of the crime in April 2021. Dnevnik and Večer newspapers reported on Saturday that the sentence is final, meaning it can no longer be appealed.

The Higher Court in Maribor confirmed the April 2022 first-instance ruling in a case that also came to media attention because the convict is said to be a member of the self-styled patriotic group Styrian Guard.

This is after the man was initially sentenced to a year and two months in prison in October 2021 for "sexual abuse of a defenceless person".

A newspaper reported at the time that the court changed the type of the crime from rape because the victim was allegedly drunk.

The man was also released from custody but only for a few days as the prosecutor appealed his release.

The October 2021 ruling was quashed by the Higher Court on the ground that it was poorly reasoned, ordering a retrial before a new judge.

In the retrial that started in March this year, the court agreed with the prosecution that the alleged crime be reclassified as rape.

The guilty ruling, handed down in April, was appealed by both the prosecution and defence teams, but the Higher Court confirmed it.

The trials were held behind closed doors due to the sensitivity of the matter.

But according to media reports, Vlado Čehić raped his daughter after she returned with him to his flat from a rally against Covid measures they took part in in Maribor in April last year. The next morning, the girl, who lived with her mother, sought aid in a health institution, which reported the case to police and Ćehić was arrested the same day.