Coal-sick Ros-Marie, 73 - brutally robbed by three men in her home

73-year-old Ros-Marie Lundgren, who suffers from the lung disease charcoal, says that she was awakened when three masked men entered her house early one morning at the end of March. The men tied her arms and legs with cable ties and threatened her with death, she says.

- He shouted: "I have the gun, I decide, tell me where you have your money". I thought I was going to die, I was just waiting for the bang, says Ros-Marie Lundgren. 

Three men are now charged at Kalmar District Court on suspicion of aggravated robbery and the trial is ongoing. The prosecution describes the act as extremely crude and ruthless.

- That this can happen in the small community Mönsterås. I have lived here for forty years, but now I will always be afraid, says Ros-Marie.

She shows pictures of strangulation marks on her neck and neck and bruises on her wrists, which she got to see. After a while she becomes dull, looks for breath and becomes shaky. The memories of the robbery night come too close.

She says that it started with the dogs barking. Then she heard thumping on the stairs and suddenly three black-clad men with hoods and bare eyes stood in front of her bed.

- I first sat up and asked if it was a joke, but they were very threatening and I quickly became very scared.

Ros-Marie says that one of the men put a bundle of plastic bags around her neck. Then a torn sweater.

"I'll strangle you, you bastard," he said. I got no air and was really dizzy, she says. 

At the same time, the other two were looking for money and valuables. They found a cupboard that they broke open. They disappeared shortly afterwards with a bag containing SEK 196,000, valuables and jewelery for approximately SEK 50,000.

Ros-Marie crawled up to the cut oxygen hoses and managed to connect the short stumps. She found scissors on the floor with which she cut up the cable ties. She went downstairs, but sat for an hour. She called for help when a neighbor came out to pick up the newspaper.

- I'm glad I made it, but I do not know how to make it now. I receive SEK 5,600 in pension a month. The money they got with them was all my savings from businesses I ran before I became ill and some from after my deceased husband. But the worst thing is still the nasty memories and horror that I will probably never get over, says Ros-Marie.

How are you today?

- Not good at all. I still have problems with shoulders and arms that ache and hurt all the time after the robbery. I have trouble getting a shirt on.

At the end of March, a couple of weeks after the robbery, three suspects were arrested. The men are 25, 29 and 49 years old, two of whom are residents of Mönsterås. The trial against the three is ongoing at Kalmar District Court and is expected to end on Friday.

Hear Ros-Marie talk about the robbery and assault in the clip above.