In the spring of 2023, a 26-year-old taxi driver was found hanging from a tree in the Hjälstaviken nature reserve outside Enköping. The district court convicted all of them, five teenagers, of which four were brothers, for interference. Three were convicted of murder, and the other two for aiding and abetting murder. But the Court of Appeal made a completely different assessment and acquitted all of them of murder. “An unexpected outcome” The Court of Appeal believes that it was not possible to determine exactly how the taxi driver died as the forensic investigation did not provide clear answers. Legal expert Johanna Björkman, with a background as both prosecutor and lawyer, is surprised by the acquittal. – It is an unexpected outcome based on the fact that there was a fairly solid chain of evidence, she tells TV4 Nyheterna. – It is surprising that two different bodies have such different views on the prosecutor’s evidence regarding the joint criminal plan. It is a little difficult to understand how the Court of Appeal reasons in that part, continues Björkman. New information Björkman believes that there have been circumstances that prove that the brothers had a joint criminal plan, and mentions a purchased rope and chat conversations as examples. – It is a special situation when the Court of Appeal believes that there has been new information from the defendants that affects the strength of the chain of evidence surrounding the joint criminal plan, says Björkman. Previously, the suspects have denied that they were even at the scene, but have since changed their story and claimed that they were there but did not intend to kill the man, but to rob him. The changed stories have been decisive for the verdict, according to Björkman. – Already in the district court, a motive and the circumstances that were the basis for the joint criminal plan were presented. Before the appeal court hearing, other evidence in the case has thus not changed, but only some of the defendants’ own stories, she says. “May have consequences” The judgment may have a decisive practical significance, Björkman believes. – It is a very interesting sentence when people can confess to murder but claim that they did not intend to kill anyone, and be acquitted of murder. Björkman would not be surprised if the verdict is appealed to the Supreme Court.
t4-general