Jeanette Bergström was 61 years old when last July she was subjected to the assault that the district court judged led to her death. A dissenting appeals court acquitted the man of the murder charges – on the grounds that Jeanette had drugs in her body. – Do you dare set people like this free and let them do this to someone else, that is the question we have to ask ourselves, says daughter Nathalie Bergström. Hudiksvall’s district court convicted the man of murder and ruled that Jeanette Bergström died from the traumatic brain injuries the man inflicted on her. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal announced the verdict, which received a lot of attention, and which caused several women’s shelters to organize a demonstration on Sunday: The man is acquitted of murder and receives seven years in prison for extremely serious assault. “A mockery” The reason is that the Court of Appeal cannot rule out beyond a reasonable doubt that Jeanette Bergström may have died as a result of drug poisoning from antidepressant medication, when a high dose was found in her blood. The coroner made the assessment that it was likely the violence and brain damage that led to death. – It’s an insult to women and everyone who lives in a violent relationship, it’s terrible, says Nathalie Bergström. The Court of Appeal released a press release after the verdict. “If someone is to be sentenced for causing another person’s death, there must be no reasonable doubt that the cause of death is what the prosecutor has claimed. Here there was a reasonable doubt,” says Court of Appeal adviser Hanna Hjorth in a press release. “Feels like a big betrayal” Daughter Nathalie Bergström says that the legal system must start protecting crime victims. – It feels like a big betrayal from the justice system and as a signal to both perpetrators and women that this can get away with the year 2023, it’s scary, she says. On Sunday at 12 noon, a demonstration against violence against women will be held in Hudiksvall with the organizations Kvinnojouren Vändpunkten and Unizon.
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