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CRIME

Mother denies killing two young sons

A mother held on suspicion of killing her two young sons, whose lifeless bodies were recovered from a lake in Sigtuna north of Stockholm on Monday, has denied committing the crime.

Published: 20 September 2011 16:24 CEST
Mother denies killing two young sons

The 30-year-old woman’s lawyer, Eva Möller, confirmed for the TT agency that her client is currently being held on suspicion of having killed the two boys.

“I don’t want to comment further on her mental state. But she has just lost two children,” said Möller, who added that she met with her client Monday evening following her arrest.

“At that time they had held a short interview where she was informed of the suspicions against her. No additional interrogations were held after that and no more are planned.”

The woman was allegedly down near the shoreline with the two boys, ages 4 and 8, on Sunday night when something happened.

“She said that she heard a thud when they were down by the water and that suddenly, the boys were gone,” the father of the 4-year-old told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

He said he received a call from his ex-partner on Sunday night in which she said that “something unpleasant and strange” had happened to the children.

The father rushed from his home in southern Stockholm to Sigtuna where he found the boys’ mother in a state of shock.

“It was like talking to an empty hole,” he said.

The suspected mother also participated in the early search for the boys, who were first reported missing around 10pm on Sunday evening.

Police intensified their search on Monday morning after conversations with people in the area led them to believe that a crime had been committed.

The boys’ mother was arrested shortly before 11am as police made additional observations that strengthened suspicions that the boys didn’t disappear willingly.

The first boy’s body was recovered around 12.30pm on Monday. A short time later, divers located the body of the other boy.

Autopsies will be performed on the bodies of the two boys later in the week, according to police spokesperson Stefan Marcopolus.

He also expected the boys’ mother to be questioned further.

“The woman will be interviewed again in the coming days, but no time has yet been set,” Marcopolus told TT.

Police investigators are reluctant to release many details of their investigation, which is in an early and sensitive phase.

However, police are hoping to make contact with witnesses who may have been nearby the Munkholm bathing area in Sigtuna between 6pm and midnight on Sunday evening.

“The witnesses we’ve interviewed so far have strengthened our suspicions that a crime was committed,” said Marcopolus.

According to neighbours, the habits of the woman and her two boys changed drastically about a month ago.

“The blinds were suddenly pulled down and the children disappeared from the playground,” a neighbour told Aftonbladet.

The 4-year-old’s father also told of receiving a call from his son’s daycare inquiring as to the boy’s whereabouts.

“They asked what had happened to the boy since he hadn’t been back since the end of summer vacation,” he said.

The father was unable to reach the boy’s mother to discuss the matter.

“In retrospect, I think I should have contacted the police sooner,” he said.

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RUSSIA AND SWEDEN

Swedish rail derailments could be linked to ‘Russian-backed sabotage’

European intelligence services are warning that Russia is plotting violent acts of sabotage in their countries in a concerted effort to destabilise the continent, including covert bombings, arson and attacks on infrastructure, the UK newspaper the Financial Times (FT) has claimed.

Published: 6 May 2024 14:12 CEST
Swedish rail derailments could be linked to 'Russian-backed sabotage'

The report comes just days after prosecutors arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks in Germany to undermine military support for Ukraine. There have been similar alleged incidents in several other European countries.

FT also claims that security services in Sweden suspect that a series of recent railway derailments may be acts of state-backed sabotage. 

It doesn’t mention any specific incidents, but late last year, a fully-loaded freight train derailed on the Malmbanan near Vassijaure in northern Sweden, damaging around 15 kilometres of the line.

Repairs began quickly, but state-owned Swedish mining company LKAB, which uses the line to transport iron ore was greatly affected, with losses of around 100 million kronor per day while the line was closed and a 3.8 million drop in operating profits for the last quarter of 2024.

It reopened on February 20th, but just five days later it derailed again in Vassijaure, this time along a shorter stretch.

Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg, press spokesperson at the Swedish Security Services (Säpo), reiterated to Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) what’s previously been said, that Säpo is collaborating with police on the Malmbanan investigation.

“Säpo has an ongoing, routine collaboration with the police force on a number of cases, primarily when it cannot be ruled out that a foreign power is involved. One of those collaborations is on the investigation around Malmbanan,” he said.

Hultgren-Friberg declined to comment on the FT’s reports that Russia is planning attacks on European infrastructure.

“What I can confirm is that Russia is the largest single threat to Sweden,” he told SvD. “We’ve said that for a while. What we can see is more aggressive, risky behaviour from Russia in their illegal actions and spying in Sweden.”

Swedish police and Säpo have previously confirmed that they are investigating the Malmbanan incidents as possible sabotage, which doesn’t automatically mean that they actively suspect sabotage, but is also a routine procedure to facilitate the probe.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT that the reports in FT did not come as a surprise to him.

“Russia is prepared to go further and carry out operations and sabotage on other countries’ territory,” he said.

But when asked whether such acts of sabotage had taken place in Sweden, he said that wasn’t the case.

“We haven’t seen any such signs for now, but we are on our toes. Other countries have seen things where they know or believe that there are such connections,” Kristersson said.

In late April, LKAB said it was so badly affected by the derailments that it may need to close temporarily as it’s not able to get stock to customers quickly enough, so its warehouses are nearing capacity.

“It’s a real worry,” LKAB’s CEO Jan Moström told TT. “If we can’t lower our stock then we’re going to have to start dialling down production capacity.” 

Moström believes that this could affect up to 600 people – half being LKAB employees and the other half being independent contractors.

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