Two Poles convicted for 'brutal' farm murders

Two Polish nationals have been sentenced to life in prison by a Swedish court for the brutal double murder of an elderly couple on a farm in Långared in southwestern Sweden last autumn.

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The two men, named in the Swedish media as Miroslaw Tabisz, 34, and Jacek Tabor, 40, will also be deported from Sweden after serving out their prison sentences, the Alingsås District Court ruled on Wednesday.

The bodies of 69-year-old dairy farmer Torgny Antby and his 71-year-old wife Inger were discovered on their farm near Alingsås last October after the couple failed to turn up for their afternoon performance with the local choir.

Torgny had been killed by a fatal blow to the head with an iron pipe, while Inger had been strangled to death with a force so powerful that it broke a bone at the base of her throat and damaged her windpipe.

Both victims had been tied up and had tape wrapped around their heads and faces.

According to prosecutors, the double murder took place in connection with a carefully planned robbery aimed at accessing the elderly farmers’ safe.

However, the court ruled that there was no firm evidence that the men took the safe and thus threw out charges of aggravated robbery.

"The evidence in the case has included, among other things, DNA traces, shoe prints, dog prints and analyses of where and when the men used their mobile phones. There have also been interviews with witnesses about what the men did before and after the time of the murders," the court wrote in a statement.

Tabisz and Tabor, both of whom were arrested in Poland a few weeks after the killings and then deported to Sweden, continue to claim their innocence, despite the guilty verdict.

However, judge Anders Hagsgård said the court has carefully reviewed all of the evidence and concluded there was no doubt that the men did indeed kill the elderly couple.

Around a dozen friends and relatives of the slain couple were on hand when the verdict was issued on Wednesday morning.

Hagsgård, along with the lay judges who presided over the case, were unanimous in finding the men guilty of murder.

"It was like putting together a puzzle. But there are many solid pieces and they fit well together. We see a clear picture of these perpetrators," the judge told reporters, according to the TT news agency.

TT/The Local/dl
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