After years of control and jealousy, Bobel Barqasho threw Sofia down from their balcony.
13 meters she fell and her whole being was literally crushed.
Nine years have passed since Sofia almost died and only now has the ex-husband been able to be arrested.
– I screamed with joy when I heard it. It is some form of justice even if it does not give me back the life I had before, says Sofia.
In just a few seconds, an entire future can be rewritten.
The 13 meter high fall from the balcony lasted just that, just a few seconds, but Sofia will be noticed by them forever.
When she was slowly awakened on April 1, 2013 from the coma at the hospital where she was then cared for for almost two months, she had a speech valve implanted.
Her first words were: “evil”.
When asked where it hurt, she replied: “everywhere”.
Nine years have passed since then but the pain is still present today.
– I have to live with the physical injuries. I have had to amputate my right arm, I am paralyzed in my left arm and I do not have much vision left. But unbelievably, my brain did reasonably well, she says with a laugh.
Sofia laughs a lot. Her mother, a mother who is always in the background and supports, is ready to support Sofia when she needs it.
As Sofia slowly healed after the hundreds of surgeries and surgeries she had to undergo after suffering fractures to almost every bone in her body, her mother was determined to keep Sofia from falling into darkness and anger, which would have been a perfectly understandable way to go.
– Humor and laughter are the best medicine, says the mother, in the background, and tells that every day she brought a new naughty girl to the hospital who she could tell Sofia.
Sofia has been living in hiding with her son and her parents since the assassination attempt on her on February 10, 2013. After the case took several legal rounds, which ended with Bobel being sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Supreme Court, he fled the country.
Facts
Sofia’s case became legal history
• On the night of February 10, 2013, Bobel Barquasho calls 112. He says that his wife, Sofia, jumped from the balcony on the sixth floor. “She sounds strange. Legs sticking out. The arm … ”he says in the conversation.
• In the district court, Bobel Barquasho is sentenced to nine years in prison for attempted murder, but when the case is taken to the Court of Appeal, he is released. The Court of Appeal believes that it cannot be ruled out that Sofia jumped herself, as her husband said. And can one trust her fragmentary memories that began to emerge as her damaged brain slowly healed?
• With the help of her plaintiff’s assistant Ia Sweger and a retired police officer, Sony Björk, Sofia continues to fight for justice.
• In 2015, Sofia’s case reaches the Supreme Court, something very few cases do. This time with even more evidence against the ex-husband, now through analyzes that Sofia’s family themselves have had to participate in and pay to produce, analyzes of, among other things, blood on the ex-husband’s clothes that show how his story does not go together.
• In November 2015, HD’s judgment will come. Five justices agree, the sentence is increased to 14 years in prison and Sofia’s case becomes legal history. But when the ex-husband is to be arrested the day before the verdict falls, he has disappeared.
• Bobel Barquasho is wanted internationally but is located in Turkey, but because he has Turkish citizenship, Turkey initially refuses to extradite him.
• In March 2021, a Turkish court will finally decide that Bobel Barquasho will serve his sentence in a Turkish prison.
• June 3, 2022, Turkish authorities announce that Bobel Barquasho, after many years on the run, has been arrested.
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The risk that he would try to end what he had begun, that is, kill Sofia, was judged so high that Sofia and her immediate family were given protected identities.
Her parents had to resign from their jobs. Nothing turned out as before.
– We have not been able to spend time with relatives and friends. My son has not been able to invite friends home, we have had to live very isolated at the same time as my perpetrator has gone free. It has felt so unfair. I have already fought against death and have felt that I should not even have to fight against this, says Sofia.
Then, on June 3, came a message that Sofia and her family were waiting for: Turkish police had arrested Bobel Barqasho.
He will now serve the 14 years he was sentenced to in the Supreme Court in a Turkish prison.
– We always have Friday coziness with popcorn and chips. That day my son said, “I know it’s not evening yet, but can we not celebrate now?” I myself screamed straight out of joy, says Sofia.
But despite the fact that Bobel Barqasho has now been arrested in Turkey, where he will serve the 14-year prison sentence for the attempted murder of Sofia, life as hidden does not look like it will end yet. Over the years, as recently as a few months ago, Sofia and her family have been told that they are still wanted by people with connections to their ex-husband.
– I never think he will give up trying to finish what he started, to somehow make sure that I eventually die, Sofia says.
Sofia’s life has a clear before and after February 10, 2013.
Before she was thrown out of the sixth floor, she was a married mother of small children studying to be a pharmacist. Pictures of her show a beautiful young woman smiling into the camera.
After the case, new pictures are taken. Sofia lies in a hospital bed with tubes that help her breathe, that nourish her, that take care of keeping her alive. The head is crushed and held together by a helmet, the face is sewn with black threads.
Men’s violence against women can take many forms, but synonymous with most cases is control and jealousy, and that was something that Bobel had plenty of.
– If I do not get you, no one else will get you, he used to say.
It was nothing he showed in the beginning. Then they were dear and the common son was longed for.
But gradually he became more and more decisive and suspicious, sometimes even violent. But Sofia had never thought that he would try to kill her.
When he threw her out of the balcony, it was only by sheer luck that she did not become one of the average 16 women who are killed every year by a man they have or have had a relationship with.
She was almost dead lying on her neighbor’s snow-covered patio.
But she survived and she is determined to keep her ex-husband’s desire alive. A good life.
– I have always been happy as a person who believes that the most beautiful comes from within. These are things he could not take away from me no matter how hard he tried.
Facts
Here you can get help and support
Are you or someone close to you exposed to violence in a close relationship? Here is a selection of places you can turn to for help and support.
Important: Always call 112 in the event of an emergency. You can also reach the social services or social services in your municipality via the emergency number.
A national helpline for those who have been subjected to physical, psychological and sexual violence. Relatives and friends are also welcome to call.
Offers temporary sheltered housing for people who have been subjected to violence in a close relationship and honor-related violence. Receives women, men, their children and accompanying animals with placement via the social services.
The national organization for women’s shelters and girls’ shelters in Sweden gathers shelters throughout Sweden, some of which offer sheltered housing. Find a hotline closest to you via Rok’s website. Click on “find an emergency”.
Collects over 130 women’s shelters, girls’ shelters and other support activities. The website contains contact information for emergency services throughout Sweden, some of which offer sheltered accommodation. Click on “find on call”.
Network for women’s rights against men’s violence. Emergency telephone: 020-52 10 10. Advice in 70 different languages, including legal advice.
Provides support to victims, witnesses and relatives.
A women’s shelter for abused women with experiences of abuse and prostitution.
Support for LGBTQI people who have been subjected to abuse, threats and violence. RFSL support reception also runs sheltered housing in the Stockholm area.
If you want to talk to someone who works at the social services, you can call the switchboard in your municipality and ask to be connected to the social services.
All children can get help through Bris, Children’s rights in society.
Can help with emergency conversation and crisis support: Call 112 and ask to be connected to the priest on duty.
A support platform for young people (15–20-year-olds) who are exposed to violence in their partner relationships, offers chat every night at 20–22.
Choose to quit is a national telephone line for you who want help to change a controlling or violent behavior. The telephone line is operated by the Stockholm County Administrative Board in collaboration with Manscentrum Stockholm and in collaboration with Sweden’s county administrative boards.
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