The 14-year-old bumped into the man who was in his 50s on an icy January evening just over ten years ago.

According to the boy, the meeting resulted in a rape and the man was prosecuted and convicted in the district court but acquitted by the court of appeal.

The boy's credibility was questioned and the DNA trace secured at the incident did not support his version according to the court.

But the DNA trace was archived and found a couple of years ago in Insats Victoria, the Stockholm Police's inventory of so-called trace security kits used to document traces of suspected sexual crimes. 

- We collected 600 track safety kits and went through them to see if there was anything more to do in the cases, says Tommy Vestergren who is a forensic technician in the Stockholm police region.

Fanns oro

There was a concern among the police that they had missed perpetrators who should have been caught earlier.

It turned out, however, that the vast majority of cases were handled correctly, but there were some sixty to examine in more detail.

Among them was found the case of the 14-year-old.

Although it was legally clarified, the saved DNA trace was sent for a re-analysis. 

- We hoped that with new, more refined methods we would get a good DNA profile that we did not get before and we succeeded, says Tommy Vestergren. 

Strengthened the boy's story

The new analysis identified a DNA that previously could not be identified on the track secured at the event.

The analysis strengthened the boy's story.

Rising, that is, a judgment is overturned and the trial is resumed, is applied very restrictively and rising to the detriment of a previously released person is extremely rare.

The man denies the criminal charges, but tomorrow, Monday 7 June, the case will be taken up in the Svea Court of Appeal where he will be brought to justice on suspicion of raping a child. 

Handful of unsolved cases

According to Tommy Vestergren, there are a handful of unsolved cases in Insats Victoria that could be solved if the plaintiffs want to participate in the investigations.

Not everyone wants to go through a grueling lawsuit several years after a suspected sexual offense, according to him.

- Yes, there are some cases in this operation where a perpetrator may have to look over his shoulder, because as soon as we get an opportunity to move on, we have a case.