90-year-old resident: 'All Muslims must leave Sweden'

A 90-year-old man in Borås is charged with incitement to racial hatred, after being accused of making anti-Muslim statements towards the staff at the nursing home where he resides. This is evident from the application for summons.

It was in August this year when the 90-year-old man was sitting in the restaurant at the nursing and care home where he lives, having lunch. He drinks alcohol with his meals.

– I have two shots of snaps with my lunch. Every day. And I’m not bothered by it, the man explains in the interrogation.

‘You should not stay here’

The majority of the staff in the restaurant are Muslims. And this seems to be something that the 90-year-old man reacts to. According to witnesses, he mutters that he is ‘damn tired of this place’ and that ‘these Muslims should not be allowed to stay’.

The man then turns directly to an employee; a Syrian mother of six who came to Sweden in 2020 and wears a Muslim headscarf; to express his dissatisfaction.

– All Muslims must leave Sweden, he says according to witness statements, and then adds:

– You should not stay here!

Three of the woman’s colleagues, two of whom are also Muslims, witness the elderly man’s outburst.

Traumatic experience

For the Muslim woman whom the 90-year-old man’s anger is primarily directed towards, the incident is a trauma.

– I was stressed and cried. I was very upset and cried. I left the dining room and went home. My colleagues helped me and hugged me, but it didn’t help. I didn’t do anything to him, she tells in the police interrogation.

She says that she feels very offended, that after the incident she has had headaches and has not been able to sleep or work.

When the 90-year-old is interrogated by the police, he tells them that the staff later told him that he was ‘shouting and causing a scene’. Something he then apologized for.

However, he has no memory of expressing himself disparagingly about anyone because of their religion. And no one has told him that.

– I am completely blank in the head when it comes to this incident, he says when the accusation is read out to him, and explains that he can neither admit nor deny the offense.

Hopes for compensation

Now the 90-year-old man has been investigated by the police department for threatening democracy-related crime. Among other things, the investigators have searched the internet and any social media belonging to him, for ‘anything that may be of interest for the current crime’. But the search has been unsuccessful. They have not been able to find anything.

It should be noted that, according to the information in the police investigation, the 90-year-old man has a significant fortune. And the Muslim mother of six has stated in the interrogation that she wants compensation from him.

Now the 90-year-old, who is previously unconvicted, is charged with incitement to racial hatred. The prosecutor argues in the application for summons that there were about 30 people in the restaurant when the 90-year-old made his comments about Muslims, and that the statement thus had spread, which is a requirement for a conviction. Alternatively, the prosecutor requests that he be convicted of harassment.

Samnytt has contacted the prosecutor in the case. She has not responded.