Grenade attack on grocery store and other crimes equivalent to 20 years in prison – but Mel receives youth care

Södertälje District Court has sentenced in the high-profile hand grenade attack on a grocery store in Södertälje this summer, where two women had a near-death experience. The store’s surveillance camera captured the moment when the hand grenade bounced off a woman’s feet before exploding at the checkout. The attack and other criminal activities correspond to a 20-year prison sentence, but the 17-year-old perpetrator escapes with three years of closed youth care due to his age.

It was at 8 p.m. on the evening of July 22 this year when a hand grenade was thrown into a grocery store on Klockarvägen in the Geneta district in western Södertälje. According to the police, the background to the attack is a conflict between two factions within the notorious Södertälje network, which has been known for a long series of violent acts over the years.

The family that owns the grocery store also runs several other businesses in Södertälje and had their residence shot at with 13 rounds just two days earlier. According to the police, the family is being extorted.

The grenade bounces at the feet

When the hand grenade was thrown into the store, a 55-year-old woman was standing at the checkout to pay, and a cashier was counting money.

The 55-year-old woman, who has no connection to the gang criminal conflict, had the hand grenade bounce off her foot and then it went under the checkout counter.

The women in the grocery store managed to narrowly escape death when the hand grenade, which according to the police is a Yugoslav variant of the M52 or M75 type, bounced under the checkout counter. The 55-year-old woman who was hit by the grenade suffered shrapnel injuries.

Watch the video from the grocery store:

Escapes properly

On December 20, Södertälje District Court announced the verdict. The perpetrator who threw the hand grenade into the store is 17-year-old Mel Eskandari Joo and he is convicted of three counts of attempted murder, two counts of aiding attempted murder, violation of the law on flammable and explosive goods, aggravated crime, aggravated public endangerment, and aggravated weapons offense.

Södertälje District Court considers that three years of closed youth care is an appropriate penalty for the serious attack. The verdict states, among other things:

“Taking into account the principle of aspiration, the total penalty value for all the offenses amounts to nearly 20 years, for an adult. However, Mel Eskandari Joo was almost 17 years old at the time of the offense, which should be taken into account. Taking into account Mel Eskandari Joo’s age, the penalty value is just over 6 years and 6 months in prison.”

“The criminal activity is of such a nature and has such a penalty value that this in itself constitutes special reasons to choose prison as a penalty. The penalty should instead be determined as closed youth care. Since there is no conditional release in closed youth care, the length of the sentence should be further reduced,” the district court writes and continues:

“Furthermore, he has been deprived of liberty with restrictions for over four months as a minor, which is why the sentence should be reduced by an additional month. Mel Eskandari Joo’s penalty is therefore determined as closed youth care for 3 years.”

Mel Eskandari Joo does not appear in the criminal record for any previous criminal activity.

It is evident from encrypted chats included in the police investigation that Emil Johansson-Rova, 27, has been involved in the planning of, among other things, the grenade attack on the grocery store by booking taxi trips.

Emil Johansson-Rova is convicted of aggravated weapons offense, aiding in violation of the law on flammable and explosive goods, aggravated crime, nine counts of aiding attempted murder, three counts of aiding aggravated public endangerment, and minor drug offenses. Södertälje District Court sentenced the 27-year-old to twelve years in prison.

He has previously appeared in the criminal record for, among other things, aggravated assault, harassment, theft, misappropriation of means of transportation, gross negligence in traffic, aggravated driving under the influence, aggravated money laundering, and drug offenses.

More youths involved

Furthermore, the following individuals are convicted for involvement in the same case.

Ali Jaafar, 16, is convicted of two counts of aiding attempted murder and aggravated weapons offense. The penalty is closed youth care for one year and eight months.

Victor Jarnlo, 17, is convicted of two counts of aiding attempted murder, aggravated weapons offense, aiding aggravated public endangerment, aggravated weapons offense, and minor drug offenses. The penalty is closed youth care for one year and eight months.

All the defendants in the case are Swedish citizens and therefore cannot be deported.