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MALMÖ SHOOTER TRIAL

SNIPER

Mangs ‘should walk free’ due to lack of evidence

The defense lawyer of suspected serial killer Peter Mangs has stated Tuesday in closing arguments that his client should walk free, based on what he claims is a lack of evidence and “strange” conclusions drawn from Mangs’ psychiatrist.

Published: 18 July 2012 07:17 CEST
Mangs ‘should walk free’ due to lack of evidence

Mangs’ lawyer Douglas Norking explained at the Malmö District Court in southern Sweden that he thinks his client should “walk free”.

“It’s not been proven that Mangs at any time was at the scenes of the crimes or let off any gunshots,” he said, according to the TT news agency.

“The serial shooter who is being sought maybe never existed, in any case the proof is not strong enough that Mangs can be identified as the serial shooter.”

Norking has stated that Mangs’ name has unfortunately become synonymous with serial shooting thanks to the character and direction of the trial.

Mangs was arrested in November 2010 after a massive manhunt following a string of shootings against people of immigrant origin that gripped Sweden’s third largest city with fear.

He has been charged with killing two men of immigrant origin, aged 23 and 66, in 2003 and a 20-year-old Swedish woman who had been sitting in a car with an immigrant man in 2009.

He has also been charged with 12 attempted murders in which he fired numerous shots with his Glock 19 pistol at homes, businesses and cars as well as out in the open, seriously injuring a number of people and coming close to killing many others.

Meanwhile, Mangs has denied all the crimes, besides two cases of vandalism.

Norking criticized the focus on Mangs’ social, economic and psychological situation, as well as the fact that just one assailant was investigated, despite the fact that no DNA or fingerprints could actually connect Mangs to the killings.

According to public radio, Mangs has confessed to his psychiatrist, as well as to acquaintances and to prison guards, that he was behind several of the shootings.

However, Norking questioned the credibility of the psychiatrist’s statements in court.

“She is surely a really talented psychiatrist, but she was difficult to interrogate. She seems to blend in her own conclusions with her information from Peter. It gets to be a really strange mix,” he said.

On Monday, prosecutor Solveig Wollstad said in her closing arguments that Mangs deserved to be punished “at the level of a life sentence.”

TT/The Local/og

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PETER MANGS

Swedish sniper wanted to ignite ‘gang warfare’

Convicted Swedish sniper Peter Mangs came close to confessing to another two murders on Tuesday, commenting on the string of attacks he had denied in court but now says were meant to create tensions in Sweden's multicultural city.

Published: 13 August 2013 07:58 CEST
Swedish sniper wanted to ignite 'gang warfare'

Mangs, who was jailed last year in Malmö, southern Sweden, told the regional Sydsvenskan newspaper on Tuesday that his goal with the series of shootings that terrorized the city was to incited gang warfare. On Monday, he confirmed that he had killed 20-year-old Trez West Persson.

The interview also contained quotes that came close to a confession to two further murders, after telling the paper’s reporter on Monday that he had shot Persson and seriously injured her companion, in a parked car in Malmö.

Her companion, Mangs’ intended target, survived and gave evidence at the trial in Malmö. His short hair revealed a long scar snaking across his skull, the physical reminder of the attack which he told court had altered his life for ever.

Mangs told the paper that the man did not look “like a criminal”, rather that the circumstances pointed to him being a lawbreaker, and that this was enough for the serial killer to feel the need to strike.

“It was a hunt! When the right opportunity presented itself, one that filled all the right criteria, then the idea was to do it,” he said.

On Tuesday, Mangs continued his saga by telling Sydsvenskan that he had engaged in target practice across the entire city at least a hundred times.

Mangs was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for two murders and five attempted murders. In April, he was convicted of another three attempted murders by the Malmö appeals court (hovrätten). The Supreme Court denied his lawyers a chance to appeal.

Mangs was also charged with killing two men aged 23 and 66, in 2003, as well as the 20-year-old Swedish woman in 2009.

As many of his victims had immigrant backgrounds, the attacks spread fear in Sweden’s most multicultural city before Mangs was apprehended by the police. Swedish police grappled with his motives, as Mangs had no clear cut ideological profile, but has spoken about his disdain for criminals.

He was also charged with a slew of attempted murders in which he fired numerous shots with his Glock 19 pistol at homes, businesses and cars as well as out in the open, seriously injuring a number of people and coming close to killing many others.

The Swedish prosecutor who headed the case against him, Solveig Wollstad, said on Monday that the confession may help Persson’s family.

TT/The Local/at

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