A woman was seriously injured when a hand grenade exploded in a store in Södertälje in the summer of 2024.
Now a 23-year-old man is being sentenced for that incident and other offences. Four other people are being sentenced to closed juvenile detention.
In the verdict in Södertälje District Court, the 23-year-old was convicted of, among other offences, grossly endangering public safety, several counts of attempted murder, aggravated weapons offences and involving a minor in crime.
According to the indictment, the man controlled the young perpetrators via telephone.
"Since he has been so active in these crimes, we have concluded that he should be regarded as a perpetrator. He has been involved via headphones on several occasions," says State Prosecutor Ida Arnell.
The district court has shared my assessment and concluded that he should be sentenced to life imprisonment. I am of course happy with that.
“A wave of violence”
In addition to the explosion, several shootings and other serious crimes in the Södertälje and Stockholm areas in 2024 are also included.
"There was a wave of violence, I would call it, in southern Stockholm that autumn. Among other things, there were several shootings at various addresses," says Cecilia Holmbom, who was the prosecutor for part of the case.
The other four people are convicted of having participated in various ways in the crimes, which in several cases are linked to a conflict between criminal networks in the southern Stockholm area.
Previous judgments
"The prosecutors presented extensive evidence to support their claims, including large amounts of chat messages on the Signal app found in seized phones," says Court of Appeal assessor Enzar Kosuta, who served as the case's rapporteur, in a press release.
In several of the crimes, perpetrators and accomplices have already been convicted.
A teenager, who was 16 years old at the time of the crime, has been sentenced to closed juvenile detention for throwing the hand grenade into the store.
