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Why Swedish ‘summer cottage murder’ woman will likely spend life in prison: legal expert

A woman accused of killing her father with the help of her boyfriend and instigating the murder of her ex-husband did not have a serious mental disorder, according to a psychiatric examination.

Published: 25 July 2017 12:55 CEST
Why Swedish 'summer cottage murder' woman will likely spend life in prison: legal expert
Johanna Möller in court. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad/TT

Västmanland District Court said last month that 42-year-old Johanna Möller and her ex-boyfriend Mohammad Rajabi are likely to be convicted of murder and attempted murder, as well as instigation of murder for the former, but ordered the pair to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before pronouncing a verdict.

Experts have now concluded that neither of the accused committed the acts under the influence of a serious psychiatric disorder, which means the court is able to sentence them to jail rather than psychiatric care.

The court is expected to convene on August 7th when the prosecutor will put forward her final case, and the verdict and sentence are then expected to be pronounced around a fortnight later.

READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about the Swedish murder case that's stranger than fiction


The summer house in Arboga. Photo: TT

Möller is likely to be sentenced to jail, commented legal expert Sven-Erik Alhem.

“If the district court finds her guilty on all counts, which it looks like it will, there's more than one murder, first of all. There's also the attempted murder which she has been part of. It is my personal view that that can't lead to anything other than a life sentence,” he told TT.

Rajabi's sentence is not as clear-cut, Alhem told the news agency.

“There is a possibility that he has been affected by her. He is also young. It is harder to judge but I would imagine it would be a fixed-term sentence,” he said.

Möller and Rajabi have both been remanded in custody since last September over what has been called the “summer cottage murders” in Swedish media. The name comes from the scene where the crimes took place, a summer house in Arboga, central Sweden.

It was there in August 2016 that Möller's father was killed in a stabbing, while her mother was seriously injured. Her former husband, meanwhile, was found drowned near the same cottage a year before – a drowning which was treated as an accident at the time.

Västmanland District Court has not formally convicted the pair, but has said Möller is guilty of murdering her father, attempting to murder her mother and instigating the murder of her husband. It also considers Rajabi, who has already confessed to the crimes against the parents, guilty of murder and attempted murder.

Möller insists she is innocent. In July she sent a letter to Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, writing that her mother, sister and eldest daughter had “stabbed her in the back” during the trial. Her daughter told the trial among other things that Möller had asked her to help kill her husband with a baseball bat.

The 42-year-old is also accused of a series of additional crimes, including a fraud charge and allegations she attempted to bribe a prison office and threatened public servants.

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CRIME

EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

Several masked men, described by anti-racism magazine Expo as "a group of Nazis" carried out the attack at an event organised by the Left Party and Green Party. Here's what we know so far.

Published: 25 April 2024 09:35 CEST
Updated: 25 April 2024 12:16 CEST
EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

What happened?

Several masked men burst into a Stockholm theatre on Wednesday night and set off smoke bombs during an anti-fascism event, according to police and participants.

Around 50 people were taking part in the event at the Moment theatre in Gubbängen, a southern suburb of the Swedish capital, organised by the Left Party and the Green Party.

“Three people were taken by ambulance to hospital,” the police said on its website, shortly after the attack.

According to Swedish media, one person was physically assaulted and two had paint sprayed in their faces.

“The Nazis attacked visitors using physical violence, with pepper spray, and vandalised the venue before throwing in some kind of smoke grenade which filled the foyer with smoke,” Expo wrote on its website. 

The magazine’s head of education Klara Ljungberg was at the event in order to hold a lecture at the invitation of the two political parties.

What was the meeting about?

According to the Left Party’s press officer, the event was “a meeting about growing fascism”. 

Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar described the event to public broadcaster SVT as an “open event, for equality among individuals”.

As well as Ljungberg from Expo, panelists at the event included anti-fascist activist Mathias Wåg, who also writes for Swedish centre-left tabloid Aftonbladet.

“They were determined and went straight for me,” Wåg told Expo just after the attack. “I received a few blows but nothing that caused serious damage.”

“I was invited to be on a panel in order to discuss anti-fascism with representatives from the Left Party and the Green Party,” he told the magazine. “I didn’t know this was going to happen, but there’s obviously a risk when Expo and I are in the same place.”

What has the reaction been like?

All of Sweden’s parties across the political spectrum have denounced the attack, with Dadgostar describing it as a “threat to our democracy” when TT newswire interviewed her at the theatre a few hours after the attack occurred.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, from the conservative Moderates, called the attack “abhorrent”.

The Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals are currently in government with the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, while the Social Democrats, Left Party, Centre Party and Green Party are in opposition.

“It is appalling news that a meeting hosted by the Left Party has been stormed,” Kristersson told TT. “I have reached out to Nooshi Dadgostar and expressed my deepest support. This type of abhorrent action has no place in our free and open society.”

“Right-wing extremists want to scare us into silence,” Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson wrote on X. “They will never be allowed to succeed.”

“The attack by right-wing extremists at a political meeting is a direct attack on our democracy and freedom of speech,” Green Party co-leader Daniel Helldén wrote on X. “My thoughts are with those who were affected this evening.”

Sweden Democrat party leader Jimmie Åkesson wrote in an email to TT that “political violence is terrible, in all its forms, and does not belong in Sweden.”

“All democratic forces must stand in complete solidarity against all kinds of politically motivated violence,” he continued.

His party has previously admitted to being founded by people from “fascist movement” New Swedish Movement, skinheads, and people with “various types of neo-Nazi contact”.

“It is an attack not only on the Left Party, Green Party and the Expo Foundation, but also on our entire democratic society,” Centre Party leader Muharrem Demirok, who referred to the attackers as “Nazis”, wrote on social media. “Those affected have all my support.”

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch and Liberal leader Johan Pehrson both referred to the attackers as “anti-democratic forces”.

“It is never acceptable for a political meeting to be stormed by anti-democratic forces,” Busch wrote. “There is no place for this in our society.”

“Anti-democratic forces like this represent a serious threat to our democracy and must be met with society’s hardest iron fist,” Pehrson said.

What about the attackers? Has anyone been arrested?

Not yet. The police had not made any arrests at the time of writing on Thursday morning.

According to TT, police did not want to comment on who could be behind the attack.

It is currently being investigated as a violation of the Flammable and Explosive Goods Act, assault, causing danger to others and disturbing public order.

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