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LANDSKRONA

Car park assault victim dies

A 78-year-old woman has died as a result of injuries sustained when she was assaulted in a Landskrona parking lot on Monday.

Published: 31 March 2010 16:27 CEST

Relatives of the woman consented on Wednesday to end her treatment after doctors said they were powerless to restore her to full health.

“Her bleeding is substantial and it is not possible to operate,” Per Längby, spokesman for Skåne University Hospital told news agency TT.

Police in Landskrona have received numerous tips after an elderly couple were brutally assaulted in a car park in the southern town on Monday. But there have not yet been any witnesses in a position to identify the assailant.

“This crime is the top priority in our area right now,” police spokesman northwest Skåne, Göran Hassel, told local newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad.

The 78-year-old woman lost consciousness after she was punched in the face and banged the back of her head. She was rushed to a neurological surgery in nearby Lund. Her condition improved slightly immediately after an operation before worsening again on Tuesday afternoon.

The incident took place after the woman’s 71-year-old husband honked his horn at a man aged 20-30 whose was in the way as they attempted to park their car outside the Hemköp supermarket.

After a verbal exchange, the younger man first hit the 71-year-old before rounding on his wife who intervened to help.

The assailant left the scene in a small red car.

Court slashes sentence in 'honour killing' case

In a ruling issued on Tuesday, the Malmö Court of Appeals (Hövrätten), upheld the teen’s guilty verdict, but discarded the lower court’s eight-year prison sentence.

The court instead sentenced the boy to four years in juvenile detention because he was 16 when he killed his sister.

As the boy was only days away from his 17th birthday at the time of the attack, the lower court had decided to punish him as a 17-year-old rather than as a 16-year-old, allowing for a longer prison sentence.

The appeals court verdict stated that had the the crime been committed by an adult, it would have warranted a sentence of life in prison.

The appeals court’s verdict also confirmed that there was enough evidence to tie the teen to the murder, restating that the apparent motive was the notion of protecting the family’s honour.

The 17-year-old’s sister had previously fled a forced marriage in Iraq and returned to Sweden. Her body was found with multiple stab wounds in her Landskrona apartment in April 2012.

Representatives of the Malmö-based organization Tänk om, which works to stop honour crimes, told local media at the time that the woman had been in touch with them for one year since returning to Sweden and that she slept with a knife under her pillow for fear of reprisals over her escape.

They claimed local authorities had ignored their warnings that the woman was under threat and needed protection.

After being found guilty in district court, the victim’s brother appealed his sentence and argued he should be set free.

Upon learning of the verdict, attorney Elisabeth Massi Fritz, who represented the victim’s sister, claimed the question of sentencing for violent crimes committed by young people should be tried in the Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen).

“You have to look at what sort of murder we’re dealing with. There are a number of complicating circumstances,” she told the TT news agency.

She added, however, that she was happy that the appeals court had confirmed the “honour” motive for the killing, seeing the verdict as a sign that the Swedish courts are starting to deal with a matter facing many young people in Sweden.

“I’m even more pleased considering all of those who have actually been victims of honour crimes,” she said.

TT/The Local/at

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