Catrine da Costa’s body was found dismembered and placed in plastic bags in 1984. The legal process that followed has been described by criminologist Leif GW Persson as “a meltdown” between police and prosecutors.
In four episodes, Document from the Inside: The Swedish Murder has revealed extensive flaws in the investigation that led to the trial of coroner Teet Härm and general practitioner Thomas Allgén in 1988.
The men were eventually acquitted of the murder, but in the judgment it was stated that it was “beyond all reasonable doubt” that they had dismembered the body. The wording meant that they were never completely cleared of being involved in the murder. Now John-Henri Holmberg, who was one of the jurors in the da Costa trial, says that he does not remember how that sentence ended up in the reasons for the verdict.
– I have no recollection of seeing that sentence during the period we had our deliberations in Stockholm. After all, there was no final verdict, but the chief judge wrote it. Then you simply got it home in the mail, he says.
Couldn’t appeal
The head judge died last year, and therefore cannot answer what happened. Because the verdict was acquittal, the men could not appeal to have the charge of dismemberment dropped.
– What the court says through that writing is that it is clear that they have murdered her but that they could not prove it. That was not the verdict that I can remember us agreeing on. Without that verdict, they were innocent, says John-Henri Holmberg.
See the whole Document from the inside: The Swedish piecemeal murder on SVT Play or on SVT1 at 20.00 on Wednesday 18/12.