The murder takes place in Valsta, Märsta on October 2, 2020.
In surveillance footage from inside a bus, a person is suddenly seen rushing forward with a firearm in his hands. But neither the camera nor the witnesses around can see the shooter’s face. Instead, the jacket comes into focus and a debate about the evaluation of evidence will flare up.
Just over four months after the murder, a jacket was found in a suspect’s apartment. The jacket is significantly similar to the one seen on the surveillance film. And on it, technicians find blood from the victim, DNA from the suspect man and gunpowder splashes from a weapon.
In the district court, the man is sentenced to life in prison for murder. But in the Court of Appeal, a completely different assessment of the evidence is made. Several weaknesses in the evidence are pointed out and the man is released.
Among other things, no traces of the killer were found at the crime scene, neither the electric scooter the killer traveled on nor the murder weapon has been found and the accused was not detained until several months after the act, which made it impossible to control the traces on his clothes and body.
In addition, the seizure of the jacket was made so far after the act that much may have happened to it during that time. The Court of Appeal also points out that the accused man had no obvious motive for murdering the victim. That they did not know each other very well and that there is no clear personal motive. The Court of Appeal also believes that there is nothing in the investigation that indicates that he has undertaken to shoot at someone else. The investigation has also not shown that the accused must have received payment for the shooting.
The case is now being tried in the Supreme Court. How can the assessments be so different in district and court of appeal? How much evidence is actually required for a conviction in a murder case based on a chain of evidence? And how can this case affect future lawsuits?
Host:
Evalisa Wallin
Viktor Ahldén
Participants:
Rickard Wahlqvist, prosecutor
Martin Persson, defense attorney
Eva Bloch, head of the prosecutor’s office
Producer: Viktor Papini
Reporter: Linnea Hjortstam
Recordist: Johan Hörnqvist
Contact: [email protected]
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Source: ICELAND NEWS