John Walter was a very active five-year-old and required constant supervision to avoid running away. The separated parents, who lived in different cities, sought help and support from the municipality. It ended with the boy being placed in a foster home in Hagfors in May 2021, according to a decision by Falu municipality.
Just over two weeks later, John Walter ran away from the home, when the staff briefly lost sight of him. A few hours later, he was found drowned in the nearby Uvån.
Two employees at the home were convicted in the district court for causing the boy's death, but were later acquitted in the court of appeal.
Criticism of Ivo
In parallel, the parents sued Falu municipality for compensation, and emphasized that the boy had been placed in a home that had been repeatedly criticized by the Health and Social Care Inspectorate (Ivo).
But the municipality was acquitted in the district court. According to the court, it was not the security deficiencies at the home that led to the boy's death, but the fact that he was left without supervision – despite the municipality emphasizing that two people always needed to have supervision over the boy.
Alexandra Loyd, a lawyer at the Center for Justice, who represents the parents, hopes for a different outcome in the Svea Court of Appeal, which will hold a main hearing in the appealed case on Wednesday.
The municipality has placed a very active five-year-old in a strongly criticized foster home near a road and water with a defective enclosure. It is incomprehensible.
The European Convention
According to Loyd, the municipality has violated John Walter's right to life according to the European Convention, as they did not take all necessary measures to ensure his safety.
Hans-Erik Sjöholm, John Walter's father, says that after the acquittals, it has felt like his son is without legal protection.
Since this has not received a solution, it feels like he is in a lawless state. It feels very terrible.
Soon four years after the incident, he thinks about his son every day.
He is with me all the time, he says.
With a guilty verdict, he hopes above all to be able to help others in the future. According to Alexandra Loyd, the goal is to ensure that something similar never happens again.
It is only when you can establish who is responsible and who has done wrong, that you can do things better in the future. Therefore, a guiding judgment is needed, she says.
