Ahead of the pending Court of Appeal hearing, the 18-year-old wants to replace his defence lawyer Mikael Svegfors. During the district court hearing, the 18-year-old denied that she was involved when Tove was killed.

But both of the accused women, aged 18 and 20, were convicted of murder and aggravated breach of grave integrity and sentenced to life imprisonment. The decisive evidence has primarily been the information provided by the coroner, who clearly stated that the cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation.

Claimed she was asleep

Since the investigation otherwise confirms the information provided by the 20-year-old woman that the 18-year-old held the dead woman's hands in connection with the strangulation, the district court has placed faith in this information. Therefore, both women were convicted of jointly and consensually murdering Tove. The younger woman has claimed that she was asleep when Tove was killed.

"I am surprised that the court places so much faith in the 20-year-old's story," said the 18-year-old's lawyer Mikael Svegfors after the district court handed down its verdict.

The 20-year-old has previously changed defenders

The 20-year-old has also changed lawyers during the legal process and it was only after that change that she began to talk about the murder.

Tove disappeared after a night out in mid-October. The three friends were going home and sorting out a fight. 21-year-old Tove ended up lying dead on the bathroom floor. The next day, the two women were arrested and they have been in custody since October 20.

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Learn more about browser support

In the clip, the 18-year-old's defense lawyer Mikael Svegfors comments on her life sentence. Photo: Jasmin Akbarzadeh/SVT