It was on December 21, 2018 that the police were alerted to a residential area in Mölnlycke outside Gothenburg. There they found a stabbed woman at a recycling station. She later died from her severe injuries. Her ex-husband was arrested in her home the same day and later sentenced to life imprisonment. The murder was noticed when one of the main questions was whether there was an honor-related motive behind the act.
"He did not accept that the woman married a new man," Prosecutor Lotta Nielsen told SVT News West in connection with the prosecution.
Professed to life imprisonmentThe prosecutor had, in the district court, pleaded for life imprisonment for murder, and in particular referred to the fact that she considered herself to have evidence that the murder had been planned, and that there was a motive for the deed.
Both the man and the woman have a Kurdish background, and according to the police investigation, their marriage was decided by their respective families. After the couple separated, the woman met a new man, which the prosecutor believes created anger at the former husband.
Judgment of the High CourtThe district court sentenced the man, but did not think the motive for honor was proven. The High Court of Western Sweden now changes the district court's judgment.
"Unlike the district court, the High Court has found that the accused man has had such an honorary motive for the act as the prosecutors have claimed," they write in a press release.
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The place where the woman was killed was full of lit candles and flowers after the deed. Police have placed an X at a location where blood traces have been found. Photo: from the police investigationThe text is updated.