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ELK

Swedish man sues in ‘elk murder mystery’

A man from southern Sweden, who was accused of murdering his wife, is suing for damages after it was established that she was in fact killed by an elk.

Swedish man sues in 'elk murder mystery'
Photo: Becky Bohrer/TT

The man, a resident of Loftahammer in southern Sweden, is now demanding tens of thousands of kronor in compensation for being falsely accused of murder.

His lawyers are critical of the way in which prosecutors and the police handled the investigation after his 63-year-old wife was found gravely injured near the shore of a lake outside of Loftahammar in northeast Småland in September 2008.

According to the man, investigators were too quick to assume that he had killed his wife.

For months he laboured under the suspicion that he had murdered his wife, and he was also detained for ten days. Then it turned out that his wife was in fact killed by an elk.

When the woman was found dead on a forest path, the police immediately suspected her husband, and arrested him on suspicion of murder, just hours after she was found. After ten days in detention, he was released, but the suspicions against him remained.

It would take several months before police identified the real culprit after hairs found on the woman’s body were finally identified as coming from an elk. Police then realized the woman had been kicked to death by the animal.

The man says that because of the false accusation, he was viewed as a killer by his neighbours where he lived and had to move away.

Now he is asking for damages totalling 621,000 kronor – 300,000 kronor in compensation for suffering and 321,000 kronor in compensation for lost income.

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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