Lucas Atrak, 16, stood up for his mate. It ended in an assault that cost him his life.
Now the sentence is being handed down – 10 months' youth supervision for gross negligence leading to another's death – for a 16-year-old boy.
We are devastated, says Lucas Atrak's mum Åsa Lindström.
The district court's verdict was appealed by all parties. The prosecutor and Lucas Atrak's family wanted to see the boy, 15 years old at the time of the act, convicted of murder. The defence wanted to see him acquitted of gross negligence leading to another's death.
According to the Svea Court of Appeal, it is established that the boy assaulted Lucas Atrak with punches and kicks and dealt a fatal blow to the temple with the shaft of a knife.
However, the boy is not considered to have been indifferent to the risk that he would die, and therefore should not be convicted of murder.
This is about completely unprovoked violence where you kill another human being who holds up their hands in the air and says sorry. This is a mockery, says Lucas Atrak's mum Åsa Lindström.
Tracks down using map function
The fatal assault took place on Värmdö outside Stockholm one August night last year.
Lucas Atrak then sends a message on Snapchat to an unknown 15-year-old who a few weeks earlier had put his mate in a chokehold and tells him to apologise.
The message makes the 15-year-old so upset that he and a 14-year-old mate track down Lucas Atrak using the app's map function. In the assault that follows, the 15-year-old hits Lucas Atrak on the temple with the shaft of a knife.
The blow causes bleeding inside the skull and swelling in the brain. The friends who witnessed the assault call an ambulance that takes him to Karolinska Hospital.
Turns 17
In hospital, he manages to turn 17 before he dies from his injuries after a month in a coma.
In the district court, the 15-year-old, who has since turned 16, is convicted of gross assault, gross negligence leading to another's death, and gross violation of the knife law to 10 months' youth supervision. A verdict that the court of appeal now upholds.
This sends completely crazy signals to young people who commit violence that this is how you value a life. Lucas gets no justice. We are devastated as a family, says Åsa Lindström.
The 14-year-old boy was not criminally responsible at the time of the incident.
