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CRIME

Swedish ‘butcher’ murderer gets 16 years

A Swedish woman who killed and then hacked up a female love rival has been sentenced to 16 years in prison and also ordered to pay damages to the victim's family.

Swedish 'butcher' murderer gets 16 years
Forensic experts examine the scene where the victim's body was dumped in Askersund. Photo: Pavel Koubek/TT

The 25-year-old was accused of killing a 22-year-old woman in a brutal attack in Askersund, central Sweden, in June. The victim was repeatedly stabbed before her body was then chopped up with a saw and knife. 

In court the 25-year-old denied the murder charge but did admit to aggravated assault, manslaughter and grave desecration charges.

She told the court that she went to the victim's apartment to confront her as they were two parts of a love triangle involving a man they were both seeing.

The murder was committed in an apartment after the woman showed up with a range of weapons including a set of hammers, a carving knife as well as sleep hormones, syringes and needles.

She recalled that after killing the woman she then dismembered the body in the bathroom with a saw and knife. Afterwards she then stuffed the remains into Ikea bags and dumped them in a forest.

The prosecutor demanded a life sentence for murder and argued in court that the killing was premeditated.

Swedish newspaper Expressen had previously reported that the woman allegedly went online to search for tips on how to carry out a murder in advance of the killing.

In court the judge sentenced the woman to 16 years in prison for the murder, which includes a punishment for grave desecration charges. The woman will also have to pay 284,000 kronor ($36,700) in damages to the victim's family.

"The prosecution had to prove that she acted with intent and it was there that the prosecutor had a fairly uphill struggle," chief judge Björn Lindén at the Örebro district court told SVT after announcing the verdict.

In summing up the judge ruled that the 25-year-old had acted recklessly and described how she attacked her love rival several times in the stairwell (pictured above) with a hammer.

At one point she left the stairwell to go to another room and pick up hunting knife to then stab her again. However, the judge said he was unable to determine with absolute that the woman had arrived at the apartment that night with the express intention of murdering the victim. 

The murder has captivated Swedish media as it involved two woman in a butcher style killing. On average there is just one dismembering type murder in Sweden a year and the culprit is usually a man who has killed another man or a woman.  

TT/The Local/pr

LANDSLIDE

Swedish authorities: Worker negligence behind motorway landslide

Swedish authorities said on Thursday that worker negligence at a construction site was believed to be behind a landslide that tore apart a motorway in western Sweden in September.

Swedish authorities: Worker negligence behind motorway landslide

The landslide, which struck the E6 highway in Stenungsund, 50 kilometres north of Sweden’s second-largest city Gothenburg, ripped up a petrol station car park, overturned lorries and caved in the roof of a fast food restaurant.

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Prosecutor Daniel Veivo Pettersson said on Thursday he believed “human factors” were behind the landslide as “no natural cause” had been found during the investigation.

He told a press conference the landslide had been triggered by a nearby construction site where too much excavated material had been piled up, putting excessive strain on the ground below. 

“At this stage, we consider it negligent, in this case grossly negligent, to have placed so much excavated material on the site,” Pettersson said.

Pettersson added that three people were suspected of among other things gross negligence and causing bodily harm, adding that the investigation was still ongoing.

The worst-hit area covered around 100 metres by 150 metres, but the landslide affected an area of around 700 metres by 200 metres in total, according to emergency services.

Three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the collapse, according to authorities.

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