Sweden: Four men rape woman with cognitive ability of a 6-year-old and walk free
By LAURA CAT
VoiceOfEurope.com
22 August 2018
Four men have been charged with gross rape against a developmentally disabled woman. Yesterday they were set free. Why? The court could not prove that they knew she had a developmental disability.
The woman is 18-years-old and has an intellectual disability. She is described by friends and family as having the cognition of a five or six-year-old, according to the judgement.
On Saturday 5 May she met one of the men in Stockholm at the T-Centre. They began to talk and then took a train towards Hässelby and then a car from Abrahamsberg’s underground station in Bromma to an apartment where two more men were and a fourth man joined them eventually.
The woman said the four men held her arms and legs, beat her and raped her. All four men denied the crime, two said they had intercourse but that it was voluntary. A third man’s sperm was found on her knickers.
There was no evidence against the fourth man, a 17-year-old. However, even the other three who either admitted or had evidence of having had intercourse with the woman were released by Solna District Court.
The court asserts that it was not established that the woman had been subjected to violence, despite an examination two days after the attack finding eight bruises on her leg and two on her arm, which would seem to correspond with her version of events. The District Court considers that she may have obtained the bruises at another time.
Though the court agreed with the prosecutor that the woman was in a vulnerable position due to her disability, the court was unable to prove that the men understood her developmental disability.
Two members of the board have a dissenting opinion, pointing out that the man who met her at the T-Centre and talked to her before reaching the apartment must have understood she had a significant cognitive disability.
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