The 28-year-old was killed through repeated kicks and blows to the head, as well as about 20 stabs with one or more sharp objects.
"The ruthlessness shown by the perpetrators and the suffering caused to the victim means that no other sentence than life imprisonment is relevant," says the presiding judge Lars Viktorsson in a press release.
25-year-old acquitted
According to the court, it has been proven that two perpetrators were involved in the murder on October 8. A 25-year-old who was also charged with murder is, however, acquitted. The 20-year-old was also fully acquitted in the district court, but the Court of Appeal for Upper Norrland makes a completely different assessment.
The court places particular emphasis on the fact that the man's DNA was found on the victim's cap, without any other reasonable explanation than that he was present at the crime scene at the time of the crime.
Other evidence that, to varying degrees, suggests his involvement means that the Court of Appeal finds it established beyond reasonable doubt that he was one of the perpetrators, according to a press release.
Messy cake – not hash
A possible motive, according to the court, is an incident referred to as the "messy cake incident", where the 20-year-old had previously tried to sell hash to the victim but instead packaged a piece of messy cake. After that, the 28-year-old began using a picture of the 20-year-old as a child as a profile picture on social media, which, according to the prosecutor, could have been perceived as mocking.
"The Court of Appeal believes that the investigation has shown that NN (the 20-year-old) may have had a motive for the act against the background of the messy cake incident and what followed after it," the judgment states.
