Swedish verdict in sexual offence case regarding Canadian, US and Scottish victims

On Thursday November 30, 2 p.m., Uppsala District Court will announce the verdict in a case where a man, aged 41, has been indicted on charges of aggravated child rape, aggravated sexual abuse of children, exploitation of children for sexual posing, child pornography crimes amongst others. The prosecutors will be available for contact with the media after the verdict is announced.

The suspect lives in Sweden and has made contact over the internet with young girls from the US, Canada and Scotland. By threatening the girls, he has persuaded them to perform sexual acts in front of the web cam that he has recorded.

There are 27 victims in total. Nine of them have not been identified. All of the 18 identified victims were 15 years old or younger when the crimes were committed. So far, no one has been convicted of rape in Sweden when the sexual acts have been performed over the internet.

“We are looking forward to receiving a judgement from the Uppsala District Court as to whether the sexual acts that the girls performed on themselves can be seen as rape. We believe that there is support in precedent cases for these actions to be considered as rape and that the circumstances in this case will give us that result. We believe that in such a serious crime as this one, it could be rape even if the suspect is not present in the same room where the sexual acts are performed,” says Public Prosecutor Annika Wennerström at the International Public Prosecution Office in Stockholm.

Uppsala District Court, number B 3216-16

Contact

The prosecutors will be available for media today 2.45 - 4 pm CET Thursday November 30.

Annika Wennerström, Public Prosecutor and Head of Investigation +46 10 562 55 58

Emelie Källfelt, Public Prosecutor +46 10 562 55 59

Press service+46 10 562 50 20