When 5-year-old John Walter ran out the back door from Prästgården, the residential care home in Hagfors where he lived, there were no staff in the same room as the children. But there were several of the day staff who had arrived and were about to start their shifts.
Today, the trial ends in the Court of Appeal against the two women in the night staff who were convicted of negligently causing the 5-year-old's death two years ago. The defense has submitted new evidence, including who actually had the main responsibility for the children.
According to the corona rules announced in a weekly newsletter, the night staff should go home as soon as the day staff arrived, in order to reduce the spread of infection. The two women didn't do that this morning, they first wanted to make sure that the children were in safe hands.
But the fact that the corona rules applied may still mean that day staff who were on site in the hall and did not see the boy sneak out may also have been responsible, according to the defense.
"Must do the work until they are relieved"
Prosecutor Stefan Wessberg, on the other hand, believes that the two women who were on duty were responsible:
"It sometimes happens that things get messy in other workplaces as well, such as in the emergency room, but they can't end their night shift too early, they have to do their work until they are relieved.
The defense argues that the night staff had not left their shifts at all, but had an eye on the children from the hall, where they both saw and heard them. Lawyer Sofia Möller also highlighted that there is now also a similar case, a drowning accident from a preschool in Södertälje, where both management and staff responsibility were tested and all were acquitted.
"There, the court said that the staff's actions were not negligent or deliberate, therefore it was not punishable negligence. They had not failed to supervise to such an extent that it could end up in negligent homicide. That was the case here as well.