COPY LINK

CRIME

12 year prison sentence for man who murdered relative with scissors in Sweden

A man in his 50s has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the murder of his younger relative in central Sweden.

Published: 27 September 2017 11:50 CEST

12 year prison sentence for man who murdered relative with scissors in Sweden

Falun District Court. Photo: TT

The victim was killed when he was stabbed with scissors in the neck at the Stensjön lake in Grycksbo, near Falun in May. The man's wife said it was the result of a family conflict, where the perpetrator took offence to her and the victim's daughters shaking hands with boys.

According to the wife the older relative asked the father to kill the daughters, but he refused, and was subsequently lured to the lake then murdered.

The prosecutor had worked for a life sentence, arguing the murder was honour-related, but Falu District Court said there was not sufficient evidence to prove that beyond reasonable doubt. A request from the prosecutor that the perpetrator should be given a deportation order was also not granted.

The victim and suspect are both relatives of Fadime Sahindal, who in 2002 was murdered by her father following her speech at the Riksdag about honour culture and oppression at the hands of male relatives. It is one of the most high-profile honour killing cases in Sweden.

One of her other relatives was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his ex-wife’s partner earlier this year.

Sweden's 'snippa' rape case to go to the High Court

Attorney General Petra Lundh criticised the appeals court for “a number of serious miscarriages of justice” in the way it dealt with the case.

The man had been sentenced to three years imprisonment in 2021 after the district court heard how he, in the prosecutor’s words, had “by sticking his hand inside the plaintiff’s shorts and underwear, holding his hand on the the girl’s ‘snippa’ and having a finger inside her ‘snippa’, performed a sexual act” on her.

The girl’s testimony was found to be credible, in part because she had told her mother about the incident on their way home.

But in February this year, the appeals court threw out the conviction, arguing that it was unclear what the girl means by the word snippa, a word taught to Swedish children to refer to female genitalia.

Despite agreeing with the district court that the man had touched the girl between her legs and inserted his finger into her snippa, the court found that it could not be determined whether the girl was referring to her vulva or to her vagina.

If the man had inserted his finger into her vagina, that would have met the standard to be classified as rape. Because the girl said that his finger was “far in”, but could not state exactly how far, the appeals court found that it could not establish beyond doubt that the man had inserted his finger in her vagina and not her the vulva.

Because no lower-grade charges, such as sexual abuse or molestation, had been filed against the man, the appeals court could not consider other offences.

This week, the Attorney General lodged a complaint with the Supreme Court against the appeal court’s decision. Now the Swedish Supreme Court has given the appeals court until April 12 to explain its decision-making in the case.

The Supreme Court has not decided whether it will hear an appeal against the decision to clear the man of rape charges.

Url copied to clipboard!