A 26-year-old and a 21-year-old are suspected of the murder of 20-year-old Lauren Spaho on Drottninggatan. According to the prosecutor, there were several fights in the area around Östra Torggatan and Drottninggatan on the seventh of May this spring. In the altercation that eventually led to Lauren Spaho's death, the prosecutor alleges that the 21-year-old held Lauren down and that the 26-year-old allegedly stabbed Lauren with a knife twice, including a stab in the chest that led to Lauren's death.
But both men deny involvement. Instead, they claimed during the trial that they themselves had been severely beaten, and do not know who stabbed Lauren Spaho to death.
The 26-year-old suspect is said to have been stabbed in the head during the altercation, a wound that bled profusely. Who delivered that blow has not been shown in the trial, nor have the police and prosecutors been able to find the murder weapon.
"I don't even think that the prosecutors have been able to show that my client has carried a knife on the day in question, let alone that he should have delivered blows to the plaintiff," lawyer Viktor Banke told SVT News Värmland.
The 26-year-old was arrested in Oslo the day after the murder.
When the police arrested the 26-year-old, there were two broken mobile phones in a toilet, his clothes were hanging to dry and he had a one-way plane ticket abroad, which the prosecutor believes shows that the 26-year-old was trying to escape.
"Considering that my client was beaten half to death, it is not so strange that my client wanted to leave the country," says lawyer Banke.
In the feature above, the lawyer explains why his client should be acquitted.