Lindgren jailed for Umeå rapes
Niklas Lindgren, the 33-year-old also known as Haga Man, was convicted in an Umeå court on Wednesday on two charges of attempted murder, and for rape and attempted rape. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
He will be 47-years-old upon release, if he serves the full sentence.
Victims asked for a total of 1.2 million kronor in damages, but the court said Lindgren was to pay 830,000 kronor.
Lindgren was convicted of beating and raping five women in the central Swedish town of Umeå during the past seven years. He was also found guilty of raping and trying to drown a 51-year-old woman in the Umeå River in December of 2005 and a trying to kill a victim in 1999.
The courts said Lindgren, during the first attempted murder in 1999 was not necessarily trying to kill the woman in contrast to the attempted murder of the 51-year-old where he had explicit intent to kill her.
Prosecutors charged Lindgren with six cases of rape, but the district court found him not guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl in 2000.
“We consider that a rape happened, but not neccesarily by this perpetrator,” said Thomas Södermark, chief judge on the case.
Trace fibers were found at the scene in the case regarding the 15-year-old, but samples were destroyed. Prosecutors tried to pin the rape on Lindgren after he admitted to being in the area then.
Lindgren admitted to three rapes and one attempted rape, but had denied the attempted murder charges.
The maximum sentence for rape and assault is 10 years. If a person is convicted for other crimes, the court can add a maximum of four years to the sentence. The maximum sentence for attempted murder is a life sentence.
Together with prosecutor Annika Öster, Axel Holmberg plans on analyzing Wednesday’s verdict and is considering taking the case to the court of appeals. Both prosecutors asked for a life sentence.
Lindgren’s lawyer, Leif Silbersky, did not like the district court’s verdict.
“We don’t like the reasoning that he would had intent to murder these women,” he said. “He has never had this.”
Silbersky is also please the court gave his client a time-specific sentence, adding that he though he should have only been sentenced to 4 to 10 years in jail.
Lindgren raped the women between 1999 and 2005, causing widespread fear among women in Umeå. A long and complex police investigation led to the arrest of the 33-year old father of two in March this year. Police were able to link Lindgren's DNA to a number of the rapes.
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He will be 47-years-old upon release, if he serves the full sentence.
Victims asked for a total of 1.2 million kronor in damages, but the court said Lindgren was to pay 830,000 kronor.
Lindgren was convicted of beating and raping five women in the central Swedish town of Umeå during the past seven years. He was also found guilty of raping and trying to drown a 51-year-old woman in the Umeå River in December of 2005 and a trying to kill a victim in 1999.
The courts said Lindgren, during the first attempted murder in 1999 was not necessarily trying to kill the woman in contrast to the attempted murder of the 51-year-old where he had explicit intent to kill her.
Prosecutors charged Lindgren with six cases of rape, but the district court found him not guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl in 2000.
“We consider that a rape happened, but not neccesarily by this perpetrator,” said Thomas Södermark, chief judge on the case.
Trace fibers were found at the scene in the case regarding the 15-year-old, but samples were destroyed. Prosecutors tried to pin the rape on Lindgren after he admitted to being in the area then.
Lindgren admitted to three rapes and one attempted rape, but had denied the attempted murder charges.
The maximum sentence for rape and assault is 10 years. If a person is convicted for other crimes, the court can add a maximum of four years to the sentence. The maximum sentence for attempted murder is a life sentence.
Together with prosecutor Annika Öster, Axel Holmberg plans on analyzing Wednesday’s verdict and is considering taking the case to the court of appeals. Both prosecutors asked for a life sentence.
Lindgren’s lawyer, Leif Silbersky, did not like the district court’s verdict.
“We don’t like the reasoning that he would had intent to murder these women,” he said. “He has never had this.”
Silbersky is also please the court gave his client a time-specific sentence, adding that he though he should have only been sentenced to 4 to 10 years in jail.
Lindgren raped the women between 1999 and 2005, causing widespread fear among women in Umeå. A long and complex police investigation led to the arrest of the 33-year old father of two in March this year. Police were able to link Lindgren's DNA to a number of the rapes.
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