Woman Attacked and Assaulted in Gothenburg Park Before Sister's Wedding

The woman was in Gothenburg to attend her sister's wedding the following day. Unable to find her hotel, a man offered to accompany her but instead led her to a park where he strangled and assaulted her.

She was in Gothenburg for her sister's wedding in May last year. The night before, she went to a bar, became intoxicated, and couldn't find her hotel.

A man offered to walk her to the hotel. She remembers walking to a park area and sitting on a hill.

Surveillance footage shows him following her from Gustav Adolfs Square and then entering the park near the German Church.

There, he pulled down his pants, and she froze, realizing there was no one nearby to help, she stated in an interview. She backed away, fell, and landed on her back in the gravel.

He assaulted her, bit her, and strangled her until she couldn't breathe and blacked out.

Afterward, he began searching through her belongings. She pleaded with him not to take her ID card for the authority where she works. He left it but took her credit card and fled.

Attended the Wedding – Covered Bruises with Makeup

After dressing, she called her girlfriend and then an Uber to the hotel and later to the gynecological emergency room.

She had an hour to prepare for the wedding, covering bruises and wounds with makeup. She was a bridesmaid and attended the ceremony but left afterward.

The assault led to her being diagnosed with panic disorder, affecting her work. She also contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Her relationship with her girlfriend ended.

The man denied the crime, claiming they had consensual intercourse in the park.

However, the court found that her account was supported by other evidence. Photos from the medical report showed visible injuries on her neck, which were not present when she was captured by a surveillance camera at a tram stop before the incident.

In another surveillance video after the incident, the man is seen attempting to make a card purchase in a store unsuccessfully, consistent with her then-girlfriend's statement that they blocked her accounts.

Sentenced for Aggravated Rape – Deported for Life

The forensic report estimated her blood alcohol level at 2.7 per mille. Her intoxication could not have gone unnoticed by the man, who exploited her vulnerable situation, the court concluded.

The strangulation was deemed "violence of a particularly dangerous nature," and the assault was therefore classified as aggravated.

The 25-year-old man was also convicted of touching another woman's genitals while filming her as she slept, classified as sexual assault and offensive photography. The sentence is five and a half years in prison.

The man is a citizen of Afghanistan. He came to Sweden alone and sought asylum for the first time in 2015. He was denied but later received a residence permit under the high school law. He applied for asylum again. The Migration Agency denied it and decided on deportation, which was upheld by the court but not yet legally binding.

The prosecutor requested his deportation due to the crime. The court noted that he was convicted of a very serious crime, had not established himself in Sweden in ten years, and had no family here. He is deported and banned from returning.