Cyberbully jailed after teen girl's suicide
A 45-year-old man was sent to prison on Monday after driving a 13-year-old girl to suicide by threatening to publish sex acts he allegedly made her perform online.
The 45-year-old was given a two-year prison sentence by the Örebro District Court on Monday. One of the girls the man spoke to was a 13-year-old resident of Kumla, central Sweden, who took her life in March by stepping in front of a train.
The man had been in contact with a number of young girls, some as young as 11, who he urged to pose sexually for him via webcam. While chat records showed that the man threatened the 13-year-old Kumla girl with sharing her nude pictures online, he was not convicted for causing her death.
He was instead sentenced for aggravated exploitation of children for sexual posing, aggravated sexual abuse, molestation, and attempted aggravated child exploitation for posing, but he was acquitted on charges of child rape. The court was unable to verify the age of one girl with whom he had had a sexual relationship, and could not confirm that she was under the age of 15 at the time of the relationship.
The man contacted the girls using a string of online aliases including bealarsson97, fotbollsboll, and pelle.persson98, with several of his victims coming forward to police after the high-profile Kumla suicide.
The 45-year-old was demanded to pay damages to the girls he abused, equating to roughly 5,000 kronor ($770) for each of the victims.
Prosecutor Pia Åsberg said that she thought the punishment should have been longer, and had aimed for a five-year sentence.
"Overall, it's a good sentence, but it's a little low for the crime he is being punished for. The most serious crime classifications should have had a higher penalty," she told the TT news agency.
She added that she did not plan to appeal the ruling, but that she has not read the entire judgment yet.
TT/The Local/og
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The 45-year-old was given a two-year prison sentence by the Örebro District Court on Monday. One of the girls the man spoke to was a 13-year-old resident of Kumla, central Sweden, who took her life in March by stepping in front of a train.
The man had been in contact with a number of young girls, some as young as 11, who he urged to pose sexually for him via webcam. While chat records showed that the man threatened the 13-year-old Kumla girl with sharing her nude pictures online, he was not convicted for causing her death.
He was instead sentenced for aggravated exploitation of children for sexual posing, aggravated sexual abuse, molestation, and attempted aggravated child exploitation for posing, but he was acquitted on charges of child rape. The court was unable to verify the age of one girl with whom he had had a sexual relationship, and could not confirm that she was under the age of 15 at the time of the relationship.
The man contacted the girls using a string of online aliases including bealarsson97, fotbollsboll, and pelle.persson98, with several of his victims coming forward to police after the high-profile Kumla suicide.
The 45-year-old was demanded to pay damages to the girls he abused, equating to roughly 5,000 kronor ($770) for each of the victims.
Prosecutor Pia Åsberg said that she thought the punishment should have been longer, and had aimed for a five-year sentence.
"Overall, it's a good sentence, but it's a little low for the crime he is being punished for. The most serious crime classifications should have had a higher penalty," she told the TT news agency.
She added that she did not plan to appeal the ruling, but that she has not read the entire judgment yet.
TT/The Local/og
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