Advertisement

Damages for wrongful child rape conviction

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Damages for wrongful child rape conviction

A Swedish man has received 170,498 kronor ($21,725) in compensation after being wrongfully convicted of child rape.

Advertisement

The man was initially convicted in district court of raping a child and aggravated sexually abuse of a minor.

The court of appeal later acquitted the man of all charges, but not before he had spent substantial time deprived of his liberty.

The award includes 20,498 kronor for lost income and 150,000 for pain and suffering.

According to Sweden’s Chancellor of Justice (Justitiekanslern), who ruled in the case, the high award amount – despite being half of what the man had originally demanded – is justified due to the severity of the crimes of which the man was wrongly accused and that he had initially been sentenced to a long prison term.

In addition, the situation caused the man suffered seriously adverse affects, both during the time he was in custody and afterwards, a diagnosis which was confirmed by a doctor.

The Chancellor found, therefore, that depriving the man of his liberty was “especially full of anguish”.

However, the Chancellor disregarded that large amount of media attention generated by the man’s case because reports didn’t happen “in such a way that he could be identified by an outside group of people”.

The fact that certain individuals published the man’s name and picture on the internet didn’t change the Chancellor’s assessment.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also