http://www.thelocal.se/20151030/swedens-ikea-killer-locked-up-for-life
Abraham Ukbagabir sitting in the middle between his lawyer and
interpreter. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT
Sweden's Ikea killer given life jail sentence
Published: 30 Oct 2015 11:11 GMT+01:00
Updated: 30 Oct 2015 12:37 GMT+01:00
UPDATED: An Eritrean asylum seeker charged with murdering a mum and a
son at an Ikea store in Sweden earlier this year has been sentenced to
life in prison.
Security stepped up as Ikea stabbing trial begins (28 Oct 15)
Man, 36, admits double stabbing at Swedish Ikea (13 Aug 15)
Ikea stabbing victims remembered at mall (11 Aug 15)
Abraham Ukbagabir, 36, remained calm when the guilty verdict and jail
term were read out in Västmanland District Court on Friday morning,
reported regional newspaper VLT.
It is likely that his life sentence will be reduced after a number of
years in prison, as is customary in Sweden and he was told that he
would subsequently be deported from the country.
A mother, 55, and her adult son, 27, died in the attack at the Ikea
mall in Västerås on August 10th. Ukbagabir had admitted stabbing the
pair using knives from the store, but said he did not mean to kill
them.
But the judge Per Kjellsson told the courtroom that the act had been
carried out with "indifference" to the victims' lives.
"In light of how he carried out the criminal act, and his emotional
state as he himself has described it, is is clear that he was
compelety indifferent as to whether or not his violence would lead to
death for those two people he attacked," he said.
The trial, which began at the start of this week, previously heard
that the Eritrean, who had sought asylum in Sweden, had been handed a
deportation order on July 27th and had again been told to leave the
Nordic nation by immigration officials shortly before he carried out
the attack.
He told the court that he lost control when he understood he would be
forced to leave.
"I used to regard Sweden as my country. Then when I had this thought
and got rejected I had to try to defend myself," he said, via an
interpreter.
After Friday's ruling, defence lawyer Per-Ingvar Ekblad told the
Expressen tabloid that he was disappointed, and suggested he would be
appealing the sentence.
He said that his client had been mentally unstable at the time of the
attack, despite a psychiatric evaluation stating the opposite ahead of
the trial.
"There is reason to assume that he has some kind of personality
disorder. I assume that my client wants us to appeal the ruling," he
said.
The Ikea stabbings stirred tension in Sweden and saw police presence
stepped up at asylum centres in the Västmanland region out of fear of
retaliation attacks against the Eritrean community.
The victims' family, from Skellefteå in northern Sweden, have not
spoken publicly about the loss of their loved ones, but said in
astatement ahead of the trial that they did not want their deaths to
be used as a "weapon" in an increasingly hostile immigration debate.
"We have lost a beloved daughter and mother and a beloved son and
brother. They were at the wrong place at the wrong time. This terrible
incident has been used as a weapon in the media and we strongly
distance ourselves from that. We do not want it to be used in the
debate about immigration and integration," read their statement.
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TT/The Local (news_at_thelocal.se)
Today's headlines
Ikea stabbings
Abraham Ukbagabir sitting in the middle between his lawyer and
interpreter. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT
Sweden's Ikea killer given life jail sentence
UPDATED: An Eritrean asylum seeker charged with murdering a mum and a
son at an Ikea store in Sweden earlier this year has been sentenced to
life in prison.
Received on Fri Oct 30 2015 - 08:32:37 EDT