DNA evidence insufficient for rape conviction
Rape charges against a 19-year-old man in Sweden have been dropped despite the existence of DNA evidence on a bloody glove found near the crime scene.
The man was suspected of having attacked a 29-year-old woman in Lund on the night of the Lucia holiday in December 2007.
The woman defended herself by biting her attacker so hard in the thumb that she broke two of her teeth.
The Lund District Court, however, ruled that the DNA evidence was insufficient because National Laboratory of Forensic Science (SKL) only analyzed one sample from the glove from near the wrist, according the Skånska Dagbladet newspaper.
No tests were performed near the thumb, however, where the women said she had bitten the assailant.
The glove has since been destroyed, but could, according to the court, have been used by someone other than the 19-year-old.
As a result, the man was convicted for sexual assault and assault on another occasion and sentence to a fine equivalent to 80 days’ pay.
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The man was suspected of having attacked a 29-year-old woman in Lund on the night of the Lucia holiday in December 2007.
The woman defended herself by biting her attacker so hard in the thumb that she broke two of her teeth.
The Lund District Court, however, ruled that the DNA evidence was insufficient because National Laboratory of Forensic Science (SKL) only analyzed one sample from the glove from near the wrist, according the Skånska Dagbladet newspaper.
No tests were performed near the thumb, however, where the women said she had bitten the assailant.
The glove has since been destroyed, but could, according to the court, have been used by someone other than the 19-year-old.
As a result, the man was convicted for sexual assault and assault on another occasion and sentence to a fine equivalent to 80 days’ pay.
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