Many thanks to FouseSquawk for translating this article from Fria Tider:

Omar raped girl in HVB [Hem för Vård eller boende, Home for Care or Residence] home hours before he turned 18 — escapes prison

April 27, 2020

Omar claims that he was born on January 1, 2001, and therefore he was only 17 years old when he raped a 14-year-old girl on New Years Eve 2018. Thus he receives a sharply reduced sentence and completely avoids prison for child rape.

“It should be particularly noted that Omar had not turned 18 when he committed the crime of rape on a child,” the high court writes in justifying the rapist’s getting away with custody.

On December 31, 2018, in an HVB home in Gothenburg, a 14-year-old girl was raped anally and vaginally by Omar, who comes from Syria. The rape occurred hours before Omar turned 18, according to the age information he himself had provided to Swedish authorities.

During the rape, personnel at the residence were busy with paperwork, wrote OMNI when the sentence was announced. The girl, who also lived at the home, was therefore left alone with Omar in the HVB shelter on New Year’s Eve.

During a police interview, the girl reported that Omar asked about her age, and she answered that she was 14 years old. They were told that a meeting in the residence was scheduled, and they went into another room to play ping pong. After a few games, they sat on a sofa and talked.

When Omar showed her his room, he suddenly turned off the lights and locked the door, according to the girl, who said that she then understood what was going to happen and said, “No”. Omar lay over her on the bed and took off her clothes. The girl said, “No, I have a boyfriend,” several times, but Omar didn’t care, and instead proceeded to rape her while he banged her head against the wall and tied a string around her throat. He asked if it hurt and tightened it even more after she answered, “Yes,” according to the girl.

Afterward, the 14-year-old girl went crying to her room and told her boyfriend on Facetime that she had been raped and strangled. The boyfriend’s mother also learned about the rape and told the girl to alert personnel. She told the personnel about the abuse and said that she wanted to report it. The police came to the HVB shelter, and the girl was allowed to go the hospital, where an examination was performed.

A couple of weeks later, between January 14 and 22, 2019, Omar was involved in three different incidents where he had cannabis resin in his possession. On January 16, 2019, Omar attempted to steal a pair of pants from D and O Retail AB, where he tripped the alarm and left the premises. The pants were worth 1,199 kronor. That ended with Omar being caught by guards before the crime was completed.

Received Swedish passport after a few years

Public records show that Omar needs an Arabic interpreter and is both a Swedish and a Syrian citizen. He came to Sweden in 2014 with his mother. His father had come to Sweden a few years before they did. The rapist was granted Swedish citizenship around January 2018. Therefore he cannot be deported home to the Arab world under present legislation.

Omar has two previous entries in criminal history records. In September 2017 he was sentenced to 70 hours youth service for assault, verbal abuse, aggravated theft, threats against an official, attempted violence against an official, violent resistance, and a minor drug offense. In September 2018 he was convicted for minor drug offenses, for which he was sentenced to youth custody.

At the end of November 2019, Gothenburg’s district court announced the judgment in the rape case. Omar was sentenced for rape of a child, three counts of small drug possession, and attempted theft. The sentence was probation. He must also pay 115,000 kronor in damages to the girl. Of the damages, Omar’s parents must jointly pay 9,100 kronor.

“It should be particularly noted that Omar had not turned 18.”

Since Omar “was only 17 years old at the time of the act, the sentence value is reduced to one third of what it is for an adult perpetrator,” wrote the district court.

The reason is that Omar had reported that he was born January 1, 2001, which would mean that he turned 18 the day after the rape. January 1 is a date that many immigrants from the third world claim they were born when they come to Sweden, and for various reasons don’t want to give their true age.

It is still possible to sentence the 17-year-old to prison, but the court did not see any particular reason to do that. The treatment that he receives at his HVB home “appears to be well-tailored to his needs,” according to the law, and can “in comparison with a prison sentence, substantially increase the conditions in which Omar doesn’t return to crime.”

In April 2020, the High Court for Western Sweden announced its judgment. The district court’s judgment is affirmed as to guilt. The damages are changed only in that the High Court decided that Omar’s parents will not pay damages to the girl.

The High Court is in agreement with the district court that “it should be particularly noted that Omar had not turned 18 when he committed the crime of rape of a child.”