Rikthor is six years old and the morning when John Walter runs out of the HVB home, he sits on the lap of one of the night staff.

He is one of the three children that the two members of the staff must guard.

He has the same diagnoses as John Walter, is autistic and cannot speak.

He has cavities in his teeth and during his months at Platea the pain has increased until he bangs his head against the wall and screams at night, but the information about his dental needs has not reached the staff.

Like John Walter, Rikthor should not have been placed on Platea, he lacked impulse control, could open windows and doors, and was easy to escape.

In March 2021, Platea had received criticism because their local environment was too unsafe for children with Rikthor's problems.

Nevertheless, he is placed at Platea in April to be investigated, and the home writes that they have a good environment for him.

- They promised that it was safe, and that there would always be two staff with him, says Pierre Olsen, Rikthor's father.

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During the spring of the same year that John Walter died, three incidents took place on Platea - among other things, Rikthor (pictured on the right) had dental problems.

See a timeline of the events.

Photo: Samy Dahlman/SVT

Needed dental care

The handover also states that Rikthor is currently seeing a specialist dentist.

- He needed to be sedated at the dentist because he does not understand what is happening.

We wanted at all costs to avoid forcing him down and holding him down, says mother Emma Strandholm.

At home, he is often worried and sad.

He hits his head on the edge of the bed and bites himself and staff until they start bleeding.  

Rikthor misses his appointment with the specialist dentist in Gothenburg, who then contacts social services to point out that Rikthor cannot convey his pain.

But nothing about this is written in the HVB home's records. 

- It was so pressured, full of children, a new child could arrive a few hours after another had left, so you didn't have time to study properly, says Ludwig Hülphers, who was a drop-in substitute at Platea a few months earlier. 

After a month at the home, staff discover that Rikthor has cavities in his teeth.

In the journal, it is noted that his behavior is probably "due to the toothache and pain".

Had to pull four teeth

A dentist in Karlstad makes a new appointment for treatment when Rikthor is to be sedated.

The head of the home and staff receive instructions that he is therefore not allowed to eat before the visit. 

On the morning before the dentist visit in Karlstad, staff meet him in the dining room where he eats breakfast.

There has been "a mistake in communication with the night staff who gave Rikthor a sandwich in the morning."

you write in the journal, and he gets a new dental appointment. 

A month later, John Walter has been found dead in the river.

Rikthor has to go to the dentist in Karlstad because of a toothache.

Then they pull out two of his teeth without putting him to sleep, some time after the home is closed, he has to pull out two more teeth.

SVT has applied to social administration Nordost in Gothenburg, which does not want to answer questions about Rikthor's location.

Former director Birgitta Berg writes to SVT:

“Not sure if it was reported as a deviation.

It wasn't about the child not having an operation, but that the child got a sandwich in the morning and then you can't put the child to sleep.

The operation therefore had to be moved forward.”

The owner company Humana does not want to answer SVT's questions, but writes that they closed Platea, among other things, because of their shortcomings in reporting and investigating serious incidents.