A Swedish woman, her boyfriend and another male have been jailed for beating the woman’s former teacher to death after she alleged he had groped her when she was at school.
Tommy Johansson, 54, was subjected to a beating, which bordered on torture according to the courts, after the trio ran into him in a pizzeria in Hofors, central Sweden, on 3rd April.
After leaving the restaurant, the woman (21 at the time of sentencing ) told her companions that Mr Johansson had assaulted her while she was a schoolgirl. Her 20 year-old boyfriend, angered by the claims, found the teacher’s address, and the three broke into his apartment. Mr Johansson’s daughter later found him beaten to death in the hallway of his home.
The boyfriend, who recorded part of the brutal assault on his mobile phone, was sentenced to nine years in jail for murder by the Gayle District Court. After initially being charged with murder, his girlfriend received three years for aggravated assault and manslaughter, while the friend was handed down an eight-month sentence for complicity in the crime.
Despite the 20 year-old insisting that he did not mean to kill Mr Johansson, the court was convinced that he was aware of the risk. “We think that due to the extent of the violence, and the prolonged time during which it took place, points to the fact that the man had a direct intent to kill his victim, but we have chosen to leave it at saying that he must have been aware that he could,” said judge Anita Wallin Wiberg to news agency TT.
The man said he will appeal the sentence, claiming testimonies from the two other defendants that he jumped on the teacher’s head were untrue. “I jumped on his chest; not from up high. It was more to make my point. I did that twice,” he admitted during the trial.
Explaining the woman’s lesser sentence, Judge Wallin Wiberg said, “Among other things, she tried to stop the 20 year-old and attempted to call an ambulance. But she still took part in the deed and has acted carelessly.”