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Woman charged for sex with human skeleton

Published: 20 Nov 12 13:19 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/44536/20121120/

A woman in western Sweden who was arrested after police found skeletons in her apartment has now been charged for using the bones as sex toys, a hobby she claimed was motivated by an interest in history.

“I have never heard of a case like this and neither have my colleagues, so I dare to say that this kind of case is quite uncommon,” prosecutor Kristina Ehrenborg-Staffas told The Local.

A 37-year-old woman, who was arrested in September, was formally charged on Tuesday at the Gothenburg District Court for the crime of “violating the peace of the dead” (brott mot griftesfriden).

The prosecutor could not explain how the woman had managed to collect almost an entire skeleton, but explained that the human remains had been used in an “unethical” way.

"In the confidential section of the investigation we have material which indicates she used them in sexual situations," the prosecutor told the TT news agency.


WARNING: RELATED GALLERY CONTAINS IMAGES THAT MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO VIEWERS


The woman is believed to have used the human bones for sexual gratification. The evidence that the prosecution presented to the press on Tuesday included two CDs labelled “My necrophilia” and “My first experience” which contained a number of document files and pictures.

However, a psychological evaluation of the woman shows that she is not mentally ill, at least not in any legal sense of the term.

“Some of the photos show a woman licking a skull," Ehrenborg-Staffas told The Local.

"We claim it’s her, but she claims it's someone else and that she found the pictures on the internet.”

The prosecutor believes the woman is "fascinated" with death.

“She has a lot of photos of morgues and chapels, and documents about how to have sex with recently deceased and otherwise dead people,” Ehrenborg-Staffas told The Local.

“You have to ask yourself why she would have those pictures.”

Meanwhile, Katarina Öberg, head of the centre of Andrology and Sexual Medicine at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, admitted that this was the first time she had heard of such a case in Sweden.

“During my ten years I have never had a patient with necrophilia. Although, I guess it is not really something that one confesses to having,” she told The Local.

Evidence also included pictures from a morgue, which were found in a secret compartment in the woman's home, alongside body bags and a drill.

Police emphasized, however, that they had no proof the woman had been digging up graves, according to TT.

The woman pleaded not guilty and claimed she had not done anything illegal.

“She admits to having the bones, but says she collected them out of a historical and archaeological interest,” Ehrenborg-Staffas said.

According to the prosecution, the woman has also sold skulls over the internet.

The latest transaction was between the woman and a person in Uppsala, eastern Sweden. The buyer had allegedly stocked up on three skulls and a spine.

The strange case came to the attention of police by chance after they were informed that a gunshot had been fired from the woman’s apartment in September.

She had also reportedly bragged to some nearby children about keeping knives and dead people in her apartment.

When officers entered her apartment, they immediately called for back-up after finding skeleton parts and knives in the woman’s living room.

At first the woman was arrested on suspicion of murder, but these charges have now been changed to violating the peace of the dead.

If found guilty, the woman faces penalties ranging from fines up to a maximum of two years in prison.

Eric Johansson
twitter.com/thelocalsweden

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12:05 November 20, 2012 by byke
Knee Deep in Boners - Has any body come forth?
12:15 November 20, 2012 by texaslass
According to the story,this behavior is 'motivated by an interest in history'- I am still laughing about this. I thought I was a history buff, but now I understand that my devotion to the study of history is merely amateur compared to this woman.
12:42 November 20, 2012 by Rishonim
She got bone weary of the meat and flesh and opted instead for a stiff.
12:54 November 20, 2012 by robban70226
What a ridiculous country, She was not harming anybody and doubt the skeleton complained. Dont they have more important things to do in Sweden? bogus things such as solving the thousands of cases of assaults and robberies? Get a life !!
12:56 November 20, 2012 by occassional
A bit of dry run then.
13:04 November 20, 2012 by byke
Clunge deep with a boner
14:09 November 20, 2012 by G Kin
If any of you has never known how strange swedes can be, then now you know.
14:30 November 20, 2012 by Flygger
Just shows you.. Never too old to find that special lady.
15:52 November 20, 2012 by Åskar
Talk about having a skeleton in the closet.
16:22 November 20, 2012 by Svensksmith
I was planning on donating my body to science when I die, but now...
16:24 November 20, 2012 by Rishonim
Give new meaning to have a bone to pick. Multi tasking and all; get bone and give head at the same time
19:27 November 20, 2012 by Emerentia
@ robban70226 Not harming anybody? So if, for example your parents, died, it would be totally ok with you, if someone dug up their bodies from their graves or stole them from the morgue and then had sex with them? Cut them up and sold parts of them online? That is so morbid and discusting that it's hard to comprehend, and for someone to think that this should be ok to do is so very weird.
21:45 November 20, 2012 by skatty
The strangest part is: "violating the peace of the death", I don't get it?!

How can a death person figure out the peace have been violated; how, it's death?!
22:40 November 20, 2012 by Svensksmith
Violating the peace of the dead....I'd just be happy if I could get a piece when I'm dead!
04:38 November 21, 2012 by MichaelZWilliamson
And I thought necrophilia was dead.
09:06 November 21, 2012 by ozu
hahaha. I also thought " the crime of "violating the peace of the dead"" part was interesting. It's creepy to have sex with skeletons but Is it a crime?

Murder, maybe collecting somebody's skeleton and digging up graves, are crime but....
18:40 November 21, 2012 by Samuel Nemalladinne
Nothing strange. It's necrophilia as said. It's a disorder unknown to swedes i guess. Ignorant swedes. Well there are saints in India who have sex with dead corpses. In peru the same exist and else where in the world.
16:31 November 23, 2012 by Stephen Rohaty
Did the Authorities say if it was a male skeleton or a female skeleton? It may make a difference in the actual charge.
19:40 November 23, 2012 by BeatrizM
I fully agree with G Kin. I had always thought that Sweden was a great country and they were the best people because of their kindness, friendliness and mannerism but it was only because of the advanced technology - internet - that their greatness was exposed. Yes, there is motive behind everything they do and they will have to mend their ways before they are alienated as emotionally cold/frozen-hearted beings. May be they do not believe in conscience or any religion and that's why there are so many weird things happening and they also come up with so many laws including sex (prostitution) law may be because they don't believe in love and marriage.
20:25 November 23, 2012 by eovti
This woman belongs in an institution, not in jail. After all, the dead don't care.

She's stark raving mad, no doubt about that, but this is a case for the shrinks, not for the criminal investigators.
05:12 November 27, 2012 by Tuss
Just to give you some highlight to this!

The law that is mentioned is "Griftefridslagen" and it says:

10 § Den som obehörigen flyttar, skadar eller skymfligen behandlar lik eller avlidens aska, öppnar grav eller eljest gör skada eller ofog på kista, urna, grav eller annat de dödas vilorum eller på gravvård, döms för brott mot griftefrid till böter eller fängelse i högst två år. Lag (1993:207).

translated it is:

One who, without authority moves, damages or abuses corpses or the ashes of the dead , dig up or otherwise damages casket, urn, grave or the resting space of the dead or graveyard, will be sentenced against griftefrid for fines or jail for a maximum of two years.

So since that woman had sex with the skeletons she violated the peace of the dead and is therefore guilty of breaking Swedish law.

Even if these bones were actually bought on-line from an other country she has still "abused" the corpses and is still guilty of breaking Swedish law!
12:17 December 9, 2012 by Dimus
"violating the peace of the dead" - erm... I always thought the dead were, well, dead. They have no peace which can be disturbed. This law is immoral, stupid, and against any conceivable logic. Yet another example of a non-violent crime.
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