The second day of the trial in the murder charge regarding 21-year-old Tove’s death was largely about forensic pieces.
As many as four different coroners gave their views in court – and largely reached different conclusions.
– If you have to summarize what was said about the same incident, the coroners do not agree, says Leif GW Persson to TV4 Nyheterna.
– After listening to four coroners’, in essential parts, different versions of what happened, it is far from reaching the limit of what counts as reasonable doubt, says GW.
If the Court of Appeal draws the same conclusion, the murder charge can be dismissed, he believes. Something that, according to him, could lead to completely different penalties being applied.
– That leaves the door open for many different options from, everything from murder to manslaughter and various variants of assault, and causing the death of another, he says.
“Speaks for a short-term course”
The forensic doctors believe that the findings show that the grip on Tove’s neck – which the 20-year-old admitted she took – was “forceful and long-lasting”. But Anders Eriksson, senior professor of forensic medicine, believes that the hold may have been as short as ten seconds and that it led to unconsciousness rather than death.
According to Eriksson, the final cause of death could be, for example, inhalation of vomited stomach contents.
– If manual strangulation in itself is to lead to death and be the only cause of death, then it is usually considered that it is required that the grip around the neck be held for several minutes, says Anders Eriksson.
It is not possible to say for sure how far the stranglehold was, according to Eriksson. However, several forensic findings that are usually found in strangulation are missing
– My opinion is that the absence of most finds rather speaks to the fact that it has been a short-term, rapid process.
Opposite opinion
Anders Eriksson believes that the findings from the autopsy are compatible with the 20-year-old’s information about what happened. However, Johan Berge, one of the forensic doctors who performed the autopsy, is of a completely opposite opinion.
He has made the assessment that there was too little stomach contents in the airways for Tove to have been able to suffocate from it.
– We can see on the X-ray that large parts of the trachea are air-conducting, says Johan Berge and adds that from their point of view there is no ambiguity in the case.
– What remains is that it is a grip on the neck that is so serious that Tove dies as a result, says Berge.
Brita Zilg, who spoke as an expert on behalf of the Judicial Council, shares that assessment
– There are no other reasonable explanations for the death.
“So non-specific”
The fact that some findings that are usually common in cases of strangulation are missing can partly be explained by the fact that Tove was so young, says Zilg. She, too, dismisses vomited stomach contents as a possible cause of death.
– On autopsy pictures and X-rays, I saw that there was mucus, fine bubbly mucus with occasional pieces of food. It is not enough to die, she says.
Nevertheless, the Judicial Council as a group takes a more cautious approach. The other four members consider that the uncertainty is so great that it cannot be ruled out that inhalation of stomach contents may have been a contributing cause of death
– But to be clear: not as an individual cause of death, that is our assessment. But possibly as a contributing factor, says Ingemar Thiblin, professor of forensic medicine and member of the judicial council and adds.
– Everything here is non-specific, it is very difficult to draw certain conclusions in any direction, I would say.