A 15-year-old Syrian boy who repeatedly raped, threatened, and humiliated his 14-year-old girlfriend in Gothenburg, Sweden, has been sentenced to ten months in a closed youth care facility after an appeals court increased his punishment.
The Gothenburg District Court had previously concluded that the offenses carried an adult-equivalent sentence of approximately seven years in prison. Because of the defendant’s age, however, it imposed only one year of youth supervision, effectively allowing him to walk free.
As reported by Göteborgs-Posten, that decision was challenged, and the Court of Appeal has now replaced the non-custodial punishment with ten months in a secure juvenile institution.
The case concerned a campaign of controlling behavior and sexual abuse. The boy reportedly regarded violence and degradation as punishment when he was dissatisfied with the relationship.
Messages presented in the case showed him insulting the girl and arranging meetings with her. In one exchange, he directed her to an old public toilet and told her to walk there.
Prosecutors said he forced the girl to submit to sexual acts at several public locations, including a library and at transport hubs. During one incident, she was ordered to get on all fours and describe herself as his “whore” or his dog.
He also used threats that intimate recordings would be distributed to compel her to perform oral sex. Days later, he forced her to cut off part of her hair before attacking her again at the public transport station in the city.
During that assault, he strangled the girl until she lost consciousness, spat on her, and recorded what happened.
Samnytt reported how the teenage victim had told investigators that the relationship initially appeared normal but gradually became highly controlling. She said the boy told her what clothes she could wear, demanded that she keep her coat closed, and became angry when she spoke to others, smiled, or disobeyed him.
She described being subjected to “various punishments” and said he frequently insulted or blocked her on social media when she upset him, but always returned with demands.
During questioning, cited by Dagens Nyheter, the defendant had accepted that he dictated to her what she could and couldn’t do, saying he would comment on her “style of dress and who you go out with and what time.”
“She should wear full-coverage clothes. I don’t want her to go out and show her body,” he added.
When asked whether he had forced her to keep her coat on and closed during school hours, he replied, “I told her to keep her coat closed. Not forced. I also said I would kill her, which I didn’t do, which shows that nothing was serious.”
The defendant was prosecuted for a series of offenses, including aggravated rape of a child, unlawful coercion, assault, child pornography offenses, exploitation of a child, and violations of a restraining order.
The District Court also ordered him to pay the victim 520,000 Swedish kronor (€47,000) in damages.
On appeal, prosecutors sought a more serious classification for one of the rape convictions and demanded a harsher punishment. The victim also requested that her compensation be increased to 780,000 kronor (€70,500).
The Syrian migrant denied the offenses and asked for the charges and damages claim to be dismissed. The Court of Appeal rejected his account, and set the final punishment at ten months in closed youth care.
