Convicted for 1.5 Years, Released After Three Months: 'Shock'

The friendly security guard she met at work turned out to be a domestic abuser. For three months, he tormented her with kicks, punches, security holds, and death threats. In June, he was sentenced to one and a half years in prison for severe domestic abuse. Recently, she received shocking news: he will be released with an ankle monitor already.

– I'm afraid he will kill me, she says.

The last time he hit her was also the worst. According to the woman, the violence and threats lasted for eight hours.

– He sat on me and sang: 'You die tonight, you die tonight.' Then he laughed like a demon and sang again, she recounts.

She reported him to the police three days later. Since then, he has been imprisoned and sentenced to 1.5 years. In December, his conditional release is due. She will then move to a secret location, get a new name, and have protected personal information.

Recently, she returned home from a safe house, where she stayed during his leave. She saw a letter from the Swedish Prison and Probation Service and sighed, thinking it was about another leave.

But this was something else.

The man, sentenced in June, was to be released from prison with an ankle monitor as early as September 15. This is called extended release, and he was granted it until his conditional release in December.

– I was in shock for three days, she says.

'Seemed So Sweet'

They met in early summer 2024 at the hospital where he was a security guard and she was a nurse.

Later, she saw that he had liked her on the Facebook Dating app.

– He seemed so sweet. I thought if you work as a security guard at a hospital, you can't be a bad person.

But the warning signs came early, she can see in hindsight.

When she was about to go on a long-planned cruise with Hurtigruten in Norway, he started crying and called her derogatory names, and while she was away, he demanded detailed information about everything she did, she says.

When she came home, he was remorseful and sent a large, expensive bouquet of flowers.

– He made grand gestures. I had a gut feeling that this wasn't good, but thought he was just insecure.

'I Let Myself Be Subdued'

He moved in with her, even though she didn't really want him to.

– The normalization process went so fast. He kept asking when we would move in together. I tried to laugh it off, but he made me feel so guilty about that Norway trip. So I let myself be subdued. I can't understand it today because I had never done that in previous relationships.

In September 2024, a few months after they met, he hit her for the first time.

– All of a sudden, he started hitting me with his fists on my chest and arms. Then he knocked my legs out from under me so I landed on my stomach. And then he used this security guard arm lock. He twisted so hard I thought my arms would break, she says.

A Knee in the Back

A few days later, it happened again. He forcefully kneed her in the groin while holding her shoulders.

A few days later, they talked about an incident at a police station where someone had died after being kneed in the back.

– Then he did exactly that to me. He wrestled me down on my stomach and put all his weight on his knee in my back before I could take a breath.

What the woman describes about the man's violence corresponds to the charges he was later convicted of. Often, small things triggered his outbursts.

– It could be that I asked if he had ordered extra onions on the kebab. That was enough, then he felt insulted. Or if I met someone or talked to someone.

Eight Hours of Violence

Another cause of the violence was conflicts over how much he should contribute to the rent, according to the woman. One evening she brought it up.

Then began the last and most serious assault during their relationship. According to her, the violence lasted for eight hours. He hit her, kicked her, pulled her hair, and threatened to kill her. He said she was kidnapped, that he would rape her, and that no one would miss her since she had her next work shift four days later, she says.

It was also then that he sat on her and sang that she would die that night.

It ended with her running out into the winter night in just a tank top and pajamas, without keys and with a phone that turned out to be broken after he threw it on the floor.

Denied Everything

A few days later, he was angry again. When they got home from a visit to a shopping center, she noticed how his anger was turning into rage.

– I thought: If I don't call the police now, I will die tonight.

So she called, and the man was arrested.

In court, he denied everything. He claimed that his admissions of violence in messages to her were because he was afraid of her.

But the district court found that the evidence – witness statements, medical records, and photographs showing her injuries, among other things – strongly supported her story.

He was convicted of severe domestic abuse, including seven counts of assault, one count of offensive photography, one count of unlawful threat, and one count of vandalism.

He was also convicted of obstruction of justice for threatening to either kill her or put her in a wheelchair if she reported him to the police.

Sentence Reduced in Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence from three years to one year and six months in prison.

– I thought three years was low but could accept it. When the Court of Appeal reduced it to 18 months – I can't even explain that feeling. I'm still on sick leave because of him. I've sold my apartment, I can't even keep my name, she says.

Being sentenced to one and a half years in prison doesn't mean you actually serve one and a half years. If you don't grossly misbehave, you are conditionally released after two-thirds of the time. The time spent in custody and detention is also deducted.

In the security guard's case, the day of conditional release is December 13, six months after he began serving his prison sentence.

Then came the shocking news that he would be released with an ankle monitor already.

'Don't Know What Applies'

The woman's caseworker at social services has assessed that she can only stay at home if the Swedish Prison and Probation Service assures that they will contact her if the man cuts off his ankle monitor or absconds.

According to the woman, the messages from the Swedish Prison and Probation Service have been contradictory. A person in probation is said to have stated that they will not call her because the man's privacy outweighs her safety. The person is said to have regretted that they do not have a victim perspective but a perpetrator perspective. Another person in probation is said to have given the opposite message, she says.

– I don't know what applies, she says.

She has received an alarm from the women's shelter. That is the security she has right now.

Prison Service Chief: We Consider the Victim's Perspective

The prison service chief in the area where the man was detained writes in an email that they cannot comment on individual cases, but that individual assessments are always made.

'Victim perspective is always considered throughout the execution.

Regarding the timeframe within which the victim receives information, it happens as soon as a decision is made.'

Expressen has sought the Swedish Prison and Probation Service's headquarters, which has announced that they will respond later.

Expressen has also sought the convicted man through his lawyer, but he has not responded.