Nytorgsmannen's Sentence Reduced: Prosecutor Disappointed by Court's Decision

The sentence of Andreas Holm, known as 'Nytorgsmannen', was reduced by the court of appeal. Instead of five years in prison, he is now sentenced to four.

– I had, of course, hoped that the court would consider my arguments, says prosecutor Anders Stridh.

Last summer, the sex offender 'Nytorgsmannen' Andreas Holm was sentenced to five years in prison for several sexual offenses, including the rape of a 17-year-old girl. The crimes were committed just months after Holm was released from prison, where he served a sentence for a total of 35 sexual offenses.

Since then, he has also changed his name and is now called Fredrik Lundgren.

On Wednesday, the court announced the reduction of the sentence to four years. It also ruled that the rape of the 17-year-old girl should be considered of normal severity, not aggravated, as prosecutor Anders Stridh had argued.

– I had, of course, hoped that the court would consider my arguments that the rape should be judged as aggravated and that the sentence would be longer than it was, he says.

“Lack of Reasoning”

There were suspicions that Holm drugged the 17-year-old, which led to the prosecutor's demand for the charge of aggravated rape. However, the court found there was not enough evidence to establish this.

Since Holm committed crimes so soon after serving his first sentence, Stridh believes the court should have taken this into account.

– The court revoked his freedom, but there is also the possibility to consider the relapse in a stricter direction, and I cannot say that the court has done that. There is a lack of reasoning on that matter.