The parents of the acid-poisoned girl in Eslöv are sentenced to eight years in prison by the Court of Appeal as well. At the same time, the Court of Appeal increases the damages to the girl from 955,000 kronor to 1.4 million kronor.
This has been an unusual and fairly complicated case, says Court of Appeal judge Lars Lindblad to TT.
In increasing the damages, the court has taken into account the degree of disability – what it means to not have a stomach, he explains.
The girl was six years old when she was admitted to the children's hospital in Lund with a life-threatening acid poisoning on Christmas Eve morning 2022. She was emaciated and severely hypothermic.
Alternative explanation ruled out
Now the parents are again convicted of ensuring that she ingested the lethal amount of acid.
The Court of Appeal has reasoned in the same way as the District Court, that it is ruled out that it happened in any other way than that the parents ensured that she ingested the acid, says Lars Lindblad.
In contrast to the District Court, the Court of Appeal also finds the parents responsible for exposing her to prolonged hypothermia.
The District Court found that the girl's low body temperature when she arrived at the hospital, 33.9 degrees, may have been a direct consequence of the acid poisoning. But it is not the only cause, according to the Court of Appeal. It is also due to her being strapped into a car seat without clothes for an extended period.
Prosecutor Ingrid Jigin had wanted the parents to be convicted also of starving the girl. It does not affect the crime classification or sentence, but the Court of Appeal also concludes that she was subjected to malnutrition, not starvation.
"Exceptional ruthlessness"
What the parents did to their daughter when they gave her acid has been characterized by exceptional ruthlessness, the Court of Appeal writes in the judgment.
It has caused her exceptional suffering, been life-threatening, and resulted in her suffering a permanent, serious bodily injury.
The parents are convicted of aggravated assault and unlawful deprivation of liberty. They have also been found guilty of aggravated assault and two counts of assault.
The parents deny any wrongdoing. The prosecutor had wanted to see a stricter sentence in the Court of Appeal.
