Published: Less than 30 min ago
Updated: Less than 20 min ago
One of the perpetrators, who was 32 years old when the murder was committed, was arrested in the Netherlands. He must be deported after serving his sentence, the district court decided. Photo: THE POLICE
Last summer, a man in his 20s was shot to death in a field in Enköping.
Now two men are being sentenced who blamed each other, but also provided crucial information.
– It is not quite usual for them to talk the way they did in this case. They have also received a certain penalty discount for that, says District Attorney Thomas Forsberg.
On August 9 last year, a woman found a lifeless man out in a clover field in Enköping.
On the spot, the police were able to determine that the man was dead, after being shot in the head.
The young man was wearing a light gray Nike tracksuit, but had nothing in his pockets to identify him. It took a long time before the police understood who the man in his 20s was.
– It was a person who led a relatively rootless existence, and he should not be allowed to remain in Sweden, says Thomas Karlsson, prosecutor in the case where the verdict was announced yesterday.
The young man had come to Sweden in 2018 after both his parents died in his home country, according to information in the investigation. He had lived with people related to the parents, but ended up slipping and approaching criminal environments.
Fimp led to the Netherlands
Near the scene of the murder, the police found a pimp. DNA findings from this led to a then 32-year-old man, who had left Sweden a few weeks after the murder.
He was arrested in the Netherlands.
– When he was arrested and taken to Sweden, he began to tell about what had happened. He has had a story that he has stuck to through the investigation, says Thomas Forsberg.
The other person charged with the murder was 18 years old at the time of the murder. He also assisted by pointing out during a siege where the weapon was buried. It was a modified starter weapon that was buried behind a stump in Västerås.
In court, he said that “the reason he helped the police was that he wanted to move on, that it would come to an end”.
The suspects’ stories were crucial for there to even be a trial, according to the prosecutor.
– It was of essential importance that both suspects told us about what had happened, and also that we got help to find the weapon. The prosecution was largely based on the oral information of these two, which was then strengthened by some technical evidence, says Thomas Forsberg.
The motive: Lost automatic weapon
The murder took place on a field in Enköping municipality, and the case was heard in Uppsala district court. But those involved are mainly connected to Västerås.
A 35-year-old man with links to a criminal network was charged with inciting the murder. According to the prosecutor, the motive was that the murder victim “lost” an AK 44 automatic weapon.
– But that person, who is supposed to have been the owner of the weapon and who was charged with incitement, has been completely acquitted by the district court in the murder part, says Thomas Forsberg.
It has not been made clear who fired the fatal shot.
Both the 32-year-old and the 18-year-old have stated that it was the other person who shot. And despite their accounts, they have both denied any wrongdoing.
The prosecutor had charged both of them with murder, secondarily aiding and abetting murder.
The Uppsala district court convicted both of aiding and abetting murder, and considered that the penalty value was 14 years.
But both received a two-year reduction in their sentences because they helped in the investigation, according to a new provision that came into force on July 1 this year.
– The prosecutor raised the issue and thought it should be taken into account in this way. And when the prosecutor says something in favor of a defendant, I think that there was no deliberation on our part, says lawyer Nils Pålbrant.
Sentenced to 12 and 6 years in prison
The lawyer for the 32-year-old, who was thus sentenced to 12 years in prison, thinks that the sentence could have been reduced more. He will go over the verdict with his client and consider whether they should appeal.
– In this case, the district court held that the penalty value was 14 years for this act of assisting, and if you follow practice, it should have landed in 9-10 years. There I can think that the district court did not make a correct assessment, the penalty should have been reduced more, says lawyer Nils Svantemark.
The 18-year-old also received a halved sentence due to his young age, his sentence was therefore set at six years in prison.
The 32-year-old must also be deported after serving his sentence.