The Free Church member is convicted of rape and assault

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Published 9 June 2021 at 11.22

Domestic. A 31-year-old man who was previously active in a free church, has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for aggravated rape, aggravated sexual assault and seven counts of sexual harassment.

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It has been about crimes of an assault nature against nine different women who were unknown to the man. The acts took place during the summer, mostly in connection with bathing areas.

The 31-year-old, who was reported by his wife, has admitted the acts almost fully but considered that the most serious crimes should not be classified as serious.

What distinguishes the verdict from the prosecution is that the district court has assessed an act in Täby as rape, while the prosecutor claimed responsibility for aggravated rape. The district court considers that this is a very serious rape (plaintiffs were forced to perform oral sex on the man under knife threats and was filmed) but that in comparison with other cases it does not reach the level of being classified as aggravated.

On another occasion, in Uppsala, the man strangled a woman and forced her to masturbate for the man. There, the district court agreed with the prosecutor's classification of gross sexual abuse. The seven cases of sexual harassment (different places north of Stockholm) consist of the man taking the women by the breasts or buttocks, sometimes he has taken their arm around them and once threatened them with a knife.

The man, who is previously unpunished, has explained the deeds by the fact that at the time he felt very bad and tried to “relieve his anxiety”.- Two of the acts stand out as particularly serious. But also in the other parts of the case, it has been perceived by the plaintiffs as very frightening that a stranger came forward and raped them. Their stories show that they have been hit hard mentally and that this has been long overdue, even in cases where the acts have been fairly rapid, says councilor Mikael Swahn.

The man underwent a forensic psychiatric examination before the main hearing ( RPU) who came to the conclusion that he did not suffer from a serious mental disorder and did not do so at the time of the crime.

The 31-year-old believes that his poor mental state at the time of the crime was such that it should be considered a serious mental disorder. The district court said no to his request to obtain an opinion on the RPU from the National Board of Health and Welfare's legal council and ruled that the sanction should be determined to imprisonment.

An overall so-called penalty value for the acts is judged by the district court to be four years and six months. The man must also pay damages to the plaintiffs with a total of approximately SEK 370,000.