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KIDNAPPING

Charges filed in captive woman case

Formal charges were filed on Monday against the 58-year-old man who is believed to have held his girlfriend captive for nine years in a small cabin outside of Eksjö in central Sweden.

Charges filed in captive woman case

Through her lawyer, the woman has requested that she not be called to testify in the trial, which is set to start later this week, Sveriges Television is reporting.

The woman, who weighed only 40 kilogrammes when she was admitted to hospital, continues to be in poor health and will be unable to travel to the courtroom.

Instead, a video recording of the woman’s interview with police will be submitted, according to her lawyer.

On Monday, the 58-year-old was formally charged with gross violation of a woman’s integrity, with an alternative charge of gross violation of integrity, as well as unlawful deprivation of liberty.

Earlier reports indicated that the man had kept the woman locked up and isolated for nine years during the time the couple lived together in the cabin.

But in the indictment, prosecutor Klas Lorefors limited the period of time in which the suspected crimes took place to September 2003 through August 2008.

Over a five year period, the man is thought to have abused his girlfriend on several occasions, kept her locked in the cabin, and abused her by throwing bottles and other objects at her, and hitting her with a crutch.

The man used crutches to aid his walking, due to a leg injury he suffered as a child.

The prosecutor has several witnesses prepared to testify that the 58-year-old man left the cabin while the woman remained locked inside with no way of get out herself because the door’s handle was missing.

Witnesses also plan to testify that the woman was never seen outside by herself.

The prosecutor claims that the man is suspected of “inflicting suffering through repeated abuse of her integrity which was meant to seriously damage her ego”.

The man is also charged with abusing another woman.

KIDNAPPING

Austrian triathlete freed by kidnapper after complimenting orchids

A young Austrian triathlete kidnapped while riding her bike talked her way to freedom by complimenting her captor's orchids, a police source said Saturday, confirming press reports.

Austrian triathlete freed by kidnapper after complimenting orchids
Photo: AFP

Professional triathlete Nathalie Birli, 27, was struck by a car Tuesday and broke her arm while falling to the ground near Graz in southeastern Austria, the press reports said.

The driver then knocked her out with a piece of wood and took her to his isolated home.

“When I regained consciousness, I was naked and tied up in an armchair in an old house,” Birli told the Kronen Zeitung newspaper.

The man forced her to drink alcohol and tried to suffocate her and drown her in a bathtub filled with cold water, Birli said.

However she managed to placate the man by complimenting him on the many orchids growing in his home.

Though he was initially “filled with hate,” the man suddenly became “nice to me” and confided that gardening was his passion before opening up about his troubled childhood, she said.

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

Einmal Glocknerkönigin (oder – Prinzessin ??) werden… #ziemlichnassesocken #aeroiseverything

A post shared by Nathalie Birli (@nathi_birli) on Jul 19, 2017 at 9:29am PDT

Nathalie Birli in an image posted on Instagram

Finally, he agreed to let her go and even took her home, along with her bicycle, which had a GPS system installed in it.

Police used the GPS record to track down the man and arrest him at his house, they said.

The police are now trying to determine if the 33-year-old man, who suffers from psychiatric problems, was involved in any previous kidnappings.