On Saturday, a woman was hit and killed at Hisingen in Gothenburg. Two brothers are accused of killing their own mother, and the police suspect an honor killing.
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– We have run over our mother, do you understand?
In a video published on social media, you can see the inside of a car. The windshield is partially broken, and parts of the bodywork are damaged.
According to The Express the 38-year-old woman had been called by her sons on Saturday 30 July and asked to pack a bag with their clothes. They wanted to move in with the grandparents because the mother had met a new man.
While the mother of five was waiting with her bag outside her home, together with what is referred to as her new boyfriend, they were both hit in Långströmsgatan on Hisingen in Gothenburg.
– They might be dead
The police thought at first that it was a traffic accident, but concluded the same day that they had been hit on purpose. Around midnight it became clear that the woman was dead. Her supposed boyfriend had serious injuries.
On Wednesday, there was a prison hearing against the four accused of being involved in the murder: Two brothers, 17 and 22 years old, and their grandmother and grandfather.
The two brothers are charged with murder and attempted murder. Their grandparents in their 60s are charged with protecting criminals.
The two men in the Mercedes filmed themselves live on social media shortly after she was hit.
– When someone commits adultery, we send them to the grave. A whore for a mother, then this happens, says one of them in the video.
In the video on one son’s profile, he is said to have addressed the father of the woman’s new boyfriend.
– We ran over your son and our mother. Now you can drive to the hospital and look for them. They might be dead, we don’t know, says one of the sons.
Laughed in court
According to the newspaper The Express all the accused are Roma. The collision is said to have occurred after an attempt had been made to hold a traditional conflict council against the mother, a so-called Romani crisis, as the woman’s sons believed the mother had been unfaithful. Relationship issues are common in such conflict councils, and the punishment can be fines or exclusion. According to the murdered woman’s mother, the council was never held, according to Göteborgs-Posten.
Prosecutor Hediye Kurt said in the detention meeting on Wednesday that their main theory in the investigation is that it is an honor killing as a result of the mother’s relationship.
– If it can be proven that there is a motive for honor, it has an impact on sentencing. Then it’s more serious, she says.
When the eldest brother learned during the detention meeting that he was being detained, he laughed, according to the report Gothenburg Post. This must have caused relatives to react strongly, and there was an uproar in the courtroom.
The man denies criminal guilt, says his defender Maria Sanner.
The younger brother also denies criminal guilt. He entered the courtroom crying and apologized for this.
– You can cry, you can get paper towels from us, answered the judge. Several others in the hall also cried.
The younger brother is under 18 years of age, and his defender Nan Sahlén asked the court to take this into account, but he was still detained because of the serious charge.
Was threatened
Swedish media have reviewed the woman’s social media activity in the days and weeks before she was killed. During the first week of July, she broadcasts live several times.
In a video on July 8, she says that she has left her husband, the father of her children. He is in prison, according to Expressen.
She says she wants nothing to do with him or his family – but she doesn’t want to leave her children. She asked that the children not interfere.
According to Gothenburg Post there were threats of serious violence when her supposed new boyfriend appeared in the background of a video.
She also gave signs of life in a video on July 12. There she says that she loves her children and asks people not to incite them, according to The evening paper.
Previous convictions
The two brothers are both previously convicted of offenses that include theft, embezzlement and drugs. The older brother has the most serious criminal history. His name appears a dozen times in the criminal record, according to the report Gothenburg Post.
But none of them have any serious violent offenses behind them.
In previous judgments, it has been pointed out that they grew up in a home environment where both violence and abuse occurred.
The older brother was sentenced at the beginning of 2022 to a six-month suspended prison sentence for stealing a caravan. The prison sentence was suspended as a result of problems with mental health and a history of drug use and gambling. But he never showed up for follow-up.
The youngest brother was convicted in April of stealing a large quantity of tools and then trying to sell them with his older brother. Before this, he was unpunished, according to the report The evening paper.
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