Court of Appeal confirms: convicted of murder born in Sweden to be deported

In May this year, three men were sentenced to prison for a murder in March 2023. One of the men, who is born in Sweden, was also sentenced to deportation, making the verdict unique. Now the verdict and deportation are confirmed in the Court of Appeal.

The man in his 30s was shot dead in an apartment in Flemingsberg, Stockholm. Södertörn District Court sentenced two individuals, a 17-year-old and a 21-year-old, to seven years and life imprisonment for murder, respectively. The 17-year-old is also to be deported for life after serving the sentence.

A third person was sentenced to eight years in prison for aiding and abetting murder, and a fourth accused was acquitted.

In the Court of Appeal, 17-year-old Omar Conteh’s prison sentence is reduced by two months, but otherwise the sentence, including deportation for life after serving the sentence, is confirmed. The man was born and raised in Sweden but is not a Swedish citizen and is deported to Gambia.

This eight-year prison sentence for aiding and abetting murder is increased to 14 years.

Facilitated by legislative change

Deportation has been one of the central issues when the Court of Appeal has tried the case, and the penalty is possible due to the change in the law on deporting individuals convicted of crimes in 2022.

According to the Court of Appeal judge Therese Linderoth, the verdict is, as far as she knows, the first of its kind in Sweden. Now she hopes that the case will be taken to the Supreme Court to get guidance on how to judge similar future cases.