The woman initially claimed that she was at home, in Biskopsgården in Gothenburg, with her daughter. In reality, however, the mother had been at her boyfriend's house since the night before.
Her five-year-old daughter remained alone in the apartment all night, which, according to the indictment, she had also done on a large number of previous occasions.
At noon on February 7, a fire started in the girl's bedroom, and she died from smoke inhalation.
The mother, who is in her 30s, has now been convicted of aggravated manslaughter and 42 counts of unlawful deprivation of liberty.
According to the Gothenburg District Court, the home was not sufficiently childproofed. This meant that the girl was exposed to concrete danger to her life, danger of serious bodily injury or danger of serious illness at every opportunity.
"Overall, the action was a deliberate risk-taking and so reckless that the defendant should be convicted of, among other things, gross negligence causing the death of another person," says Chief Councilor Patrik Claeson in a press release.
Set up cameras
While the daughter was home alone, the mother kept an eye on her via cameras she had installed in the apartment.
The police investigation includes a long series of photos of the girl's lonely hours at home. She walks around in just a diaper and is seen climbing over the baby gate in the doorway to her room. In another photo, she is lying in her bed, her face illuminated by a tablet.
Pictures from February 7 show that the apartment was filled with smoke.
In the first interviews after the fire, the mother said that her daughter had gone into her room with her cat on the day in question, while she herself remained in her own bedroom when she smelled the fire.
It later emerged that she only came home after the fire started. But to many of the questions in the interviews she answered "I don't remember", and during the trial she neither admitted nor denied the allegations.
Several reports of concern
There is every indication that the verdict will be appealed.
"At this point, we have not decided on an appeal. But we are not ruling it out," says her defense attorney Sofia Hansson.
Her position on the criminal suspicions remains the same. She can neither admit nor deny them.
Prosecutors also expect there to be another trial.
"It's a unique case, which is very difficult to assess. So we are of the opinion that it needs to be tried in the Court of Appeal for several reasons," says Sara Selheden, one of the prosecutors.
One of the reasons may be the length of the prison sentence. The prosecutors requested six years, but according to Sara Selheden, this could change.
The penalty is one of the factors of uncertainty, especially since it is such a comprehensive unlawful deprivation of liberty combined with the death of another person, she says.
It is possible that we will expand the claim in a possible appeal process. It is not inconceivable.
Between 2022 and 2025, social services received three reports of concern about the girl, the last only about six months before the fire. However, after talking to the woman, social services chose not to open an investigation.
The agency recently filed a lex Sarah report to investigate its handling of the case.
