The female guardian was charged on Wednesday for beating the child, and her husband – the girl's uncle – was charged for doing nothing to prevent the attack. The Blekinge District Court noted that the woman had beaten the child all over her body.
The court added that the man had not made the effort to notify the authorities or the hospital after the attack. Both guardians will now undergo a psychiatric evaluation, reported the TT news agency.
The girl, Yara Alnajjar, died in a Karlskrona hospital in May after the attack. She had come to Sweden from Gaza the year before to live with her guardians – one of whom was her uncle.
Chief Prosecutor Pernilla Åström said that a murder conviction could be forthcoming.
"My understanding is that the evidence is sufficient for both to be convicted of murder, but that doesn't mean that the court will choose to label it the same way," she said.
The hearing is expected to resume at the end of January, and until then the pair will remain in custody.
"It didn't come as a surprise that the man would have to stay in custody," the man's lawyer, Christer Holmqvist, told TT, adding that the evidence perhaps wasn't enough to convict the man of anything more than a failure in his role as guardian.
The case has made headlines in Sweden since May. The principal at Yara's local school was suspended soon after the attack for failing to act on signs that the girl was being beaten.
Please whitelist us to continue reading.