Prosecutor to probe case of 10-year-old left outside

The case with the 10-year-old boy left out in the cold by his father after ”failing to perform” in a sports event has been referred to the prosecutor's office for further investigation, Uppsala police announced on Monday.

• Dad leaves son in the cold for 'playing like crap' (8 Jan 12)

”Prosecutors will try the case and see if there is suspicion of a crime,” said Christer Nordström, spokesperson for the Uppsala police, to daily Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).

The boy was allegedly left outside in the cold wearing only a shorts and t-shirt in Uppsala, in eastern Sweden, on Saturday evening.

He was discovered by the coach of senior floorball team Sirius who came by to drop off some match equipment in the arena.

Coach Conny Eriksson told the boy to go inside since it was "seven - eight degrees below freezing outside" but discovered the boy still standing there ten minutes later.

The boy then started crying, telling Eriksson that his father had left him there in just shorts and t-shirt to walk home to Stockholm, some 40 kilometres away.

When Eriksson telephoned the father from the boy's phone, the father confirmed that he had left his son and rudely said that 'the boy played like crap and that he could walk home'.

Eriksson then managed to get hold of another parent from the team, who came and picked up the boy. Despite making sure that the boy knew the person who came to pick him up, Eriksson never thought to take his name, nor that of his team.

After the story broke in the press, police received a report about the incident. At first, they dropped the preliminary investigation, partly due to the fact that no one knows the boy's identity.

”We still don't have anyone identified. The circumstances surrounding this case are still not very clear,” Lisa Sannervik of the Uppsala police told SvD.

Mats Åkerlund, the chairman of Storvreta IBK, the club that organized the event, has spoken to a number of people trying to work out from which team the boy came.

”I have checked three times with the cup organizers and no one knows anything about this incident. I have no other knowledge than what Conny Eriksson has said. He told his story to me too,” Åkerlund told daily Dagens Nyheter (DN).

However, over the course of Monday morning, Uppsala police decided to turn the case over to the prosecutor's office.

”We thought there was cause to let the Prosecution Authority (Åklagarmyndigheten) look at it,” said Sannervik to news agency TT.

The Uppsala police have received a record number of calls after the incident made headlines on Sunday.

”I can't remember any incident where we have received this many calls, it's crazy. It is the behaviour that many are reacting to. And if what is said is true, then it is shocking. But we don't know that yet,” Nordström told TT.

The coach is going to be questioned further by police, according to Nordström.

”We will identify these people so that we get this sorted out. And we are very eager to receive help from the general public,” said Nordström to TT.