Published: 31 Dec 09 10:43 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/24144/20091231/
A court in Halmstad on the southwest coast of Sweden has dismissed charges against a man who reportedly took a photo of a 17-year-old girl's genitals while she was sleeping. The court said that the incident was was not a punishable offense.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
At least two schools, a police station, and 15 cars were set ablaze in Stockholm on Thursday night as riots in the suburbs of the Swedish capital continued for the fifth straight night. READ () »
With one 18-year-old remanded in custody after four nights of rioting in Stockholm, Sweden's Integration Minister Erik Ullenhag said the rioters are a small minority, and did not represent a clash between young people in the suburbs and Swedish society. READ () »
A viral Facebook post about the terror of being targeted by stone-throwing youths during to the ongoing Stockholm riots has made firefighter Mattias Lassén into something of a Swedish folk hero, and The Local's pick for Swede of the Week. READ () »
Fresh from another near miss with a hulking behemoth of an elk, ex-Londoner Paul Connolly offers up a theory on how the prospect of imminent collisions with wayward wildlife affects the driving habits of Swedes up north. READ () »
The government and its main opposition have agreed to new rules governing performance requirements and profits at publicly funded, privately managed free schools. READ () »
Scientists at three Swedish universities have managed to muddle through the genetic code for fir trees, seven times larger than the human genome, with potential benefits for the Swedish forestry industry. READ () »
The Borås Zoo in western Sweden has welcomed a rare new elephant calf as African elephant Dudu gave birth on Wednesday after two years of pregnancy. READ () »
Wednesday night saw more burning cars, smashed windows, and stone throwing at police in at least 15 suburbs around Stockholm, as the fourth night of riots swept the Swedish capital. READ () »
More news from Germany at thelocal.de
More news from France at thelocal.fr
More news from Norway at thelocal.no
More news from Switzerland at thelocal.ch
Register now for:
> Free use of noticeboard
> Special discounts
> Weekly news roundup
> Unlimited use of discuss
Be British, be sincere and be bold »
"Sweden is a veritable smorgåsbord for UK business. I see our work as a bit like a kind of dragon’s den for both for larger and smaller British companies. It is about matching the UK companies, not with cash, but with Swedish market opportunities." READ »
Your comments about this article:
The comments below have not been moderated in advance and are not produced by The Local unless clearly stated. Readers are responsible for the content of their own comments. Comments that breach our terms and conditions will be removed.
The guy is a complete pervert, taking a picture of someone's privates is usually a crime in most countries, but go figure not here.
I love Sweden, but the extreme easiness on these crimes just disgusts me.
Its not like he's "getting away" with anything, and arresting him is only going to cost Sweden more money, and fill up another jail cell.
Take it from a Swede living the the U.S., making things "illegal", and "punishing" and imprisoning people doesn't necessarily help quell crime. Sometimes the personal punishment they receive is just as good. he should be embarrassed and exposed, but (in my opinion) NOT prosecuted for this.
And besides all that, perhaps it'll teach promiscuous girls to think twice before A) going out in a skirt without underwear! And B), if you are going to do that, don't pass out on a stranger's couch! It's called common sense, and it's called personal responsibility!
Also yeah going out without underwear is just plain idiotic and in a way just asking for trouble :x
Common sense doesn't seem like something the Swedish have in abundance from what i've seen.
Insane simply insane
I heard about this case as some of my friends discussed it, one who is a law student.
Apparently the reason for this seemingly daft judgement lies in the fact that if they *had* convicted him, it opens up for anyone who feels harassed (either sexually, "regular" or both) to prosecute *anyone* who takes pictures of them. *Anywhere.*
If you're visiting Stockholm in the summer and want to take a picture of the Royal Castle (no strike that, it's ugly. The City Hall) and a young woman in shorts and a top end up in the picture, but she notice it and feel like you're taking a picture of her; then she could drag you to court over it.
Or you're talking a picture of your kid playing with another kid in a park. The other kids mother notice you and thinks you're a pedo; she can drag you to court for taking pictures that includes her child in it.
Ridiculous it might be, but some people are either over-sensitive, over-protective or plain jerks and even if you're found not guilty by the court, you still have to go through with a court procedure.
It's to avoid opening that can of worms that they ruled as they did according to my friend.
Personally I still think they should have slapped the perv with something, but oh well...
I expect Sweden has similar laws. But is this offence that serious?
Had she any real pride and self-respect, she would probably have kept it as quiet as possible rather than making the affair public.
I would think taking picture of one's genitals without consent is an offence in any culture, specially with under aged people.
In short, jury's there for a reason.
You mean the virgin halo. ;)
And I doubt it. He might have gotten a kick in the nuts from his wife/partner though - he certainly deserves it.
Hmm, maybe she went without panties because all hers were in the washer?
and she was on the mans sofa in his house without her knickers lucky she got away so cheaply really!
if he knew the Swedish court system he could have done her and told the court she was there on her own will on his sofa in his house and he may just have walked at best or spent six months in state hotel!
now if he was file sharing the above mentioned photo then he would be up for piracy and porn and would have to spend much longer in state hotel!
now if the RFSU had advised him of his rights/wrongs he would be much happier, maybe he got the first official slidkrans photograph! ROFL
In the end, everyone was being stupid in this situation, but the man should not have been cleared of sexual harassment. Taking a picture of your child in the park and inadvertently getting other kids in the shot is not sexual harassment. Lifting up a girls skirt, no matter her age, when she is sleeping on a couch and taking a picture (or even a peek) is grounds for punishment. I think he should have been heavily fined.
The laws are behind a bit on the new realities. Swedes net to put pressure on their politicians to get them brought up to date. (I'm betting most Swedes could care less if their nakedness is shared worldwide, but it should be up to the individual's choice - and child porn and its manufacturers should be hunted down and destroyed worldwide.)
Thus, had her skirt lifted sans help:no assault, nor touching involved, just a photo in the process of other photos, so how would this action thus stand morally, ethically or legally?
Indecent of him, yes. Morally challenged, yes. Unethical, decidedly. Criminal, no.
As to whether she should be laying about with a skirt and no knickers, and uncovered by a blanket, raises issues of poor judgement and common sense, or worse.
Great place to live if your a predator!!
I agree, it's not very nice but it's not criminal.
In Germany it's not criminal to touch a strange Womans breasts, in other countries it is.
Those who say the perp is getting his through 'embarrassment and having his name publicized are very short sighted. The law not only punishes but also teaches. If the law is now that exposing someone pornographically is ok, then what will the rest of the populace learn? They will learn to expose people pornographically. What will happen next? Ex-spouses (or ex-sambos as I believe Swedes call them) will get revenge by using such pictures. it will be become so commonplace that this one perpetrator's 'embarrassment' will no longer be an issue because "everybody is doing it."
The Native Peoples in The United States have been:massacred, starved, abused, tortured, marginalized, kept from their language, and their children have suffered continual sexual abuse at so-called boarding schools where harsh penalties were enforced on those who spoke their native languages, and the latter up into the late 1960s in America, and until the 1970s in Candada.
Their "reservations," actually gulags, where they exist have the highest unemployment in the world, and they have been denied the benefits of all their mineral and fossil -fuel rights, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars from the Government to the 21 century .
Yet we have Americans posting here about how weird
Sweden is and defining their own so-called moral codes of ethics whereas their young women are often reduced to back street abortion hacks when their so-called health insurance does not cover their own rights to their bodies.
Yes, we know all about your vaunted United States.
The mere possession of Child Pornagraphy, will land you in FEDERAL Prison in the US, where I gurantee you, that you will meet some pervert, who will create their own memorable sexual moments with you willing or not.
If I was a sexual deginerate I would stay in Sweden.You will be inprisioned, registered, harrassed to the best of our ability in the US.
PS. Young girls Father's tend to own guns also in manny parts of the US, so you might be safer with the other weirdos in prison.
What he did was abuse a minor. His very act of picking up her leg to take the photo is assault. Seems like the judicial system forgot it's supposed to be protecting the victims, not the offenders.
This seriously made me sick to my stomach. And that he wandered around, showing other people, it's a type of emotional rape for that poor girl. And blaming her will only make her even more of a victim. This was a crime, even if they are using one of the dumbest excuses I have ever heard, one of the lowliest of loopholes, to get out of punishing him.
As for him being in trouble with his family and friends, you mean the same friends to whom he showed the picture? You think those guys are going to punish him? More likely they are oogling the picture and slapping him on the back. The wife probably hoped she could laugh it off and is busy making excuses for his disgusting behavior, and the son is probably cornering the girl in school and saying something like 'sluts don't wear panties, right (insert name here).'
There is no self responsibility for the 47 year old, why should this weigh on the 17 yr old's shoulders?