Two Arab men have been found guilty of raping a mother in Gothenburg who was trying to take a taxi home to her children. One of the men has been sentenced to five years in prison for aggravated rape, while the other is awaiting his sentence.
– The other man has been sent for forensic psychiatric evaluation, prosecutor Sara Selheden tells Samnytt.

It was a weekend in June last year when a middle-aged woman had been out enjoying herself at Bryggeriet on Avenyn in Gothenburg. She was tired and intoxicated, and was planning to take a taxi home where her children were waiting.

It was almost three in the morning. Håkan Hellström had played at Ullevi that same evening, the streets were crowded, and there were no taxis available.

So the woman started walking towards the tram stop.

The Illegal Taxi

Suddenly, a car stopped next to her with two men inside.

– This car stopped, a black, newer Mercedes with tinted windows. I don’t know if both were sitting in the front. They rolled down the window and asked if they should give me a ride home, the woman tells in the police interview.

– I was extremely tired and very drunk. I asked if they would really take me home, and they said yes.

She got into the car, believing that they would drive her home. She thought she was much older than they were.

– They are little kids to me, she says.

– It’s stupid, really. You shouldn’t do things like this. But… Yeah. But just then… the woman reflects on her decision to get in the car.

Raped

At first, the woman did not suspect anything. She believed the men intended to take her home and that she would send them money via Swish for the trouble.

READ ALSO: Horror Taxi in Stockholm: Driver Kidnapped and Attempted to Rape Woman – Indicted

– In the beginning, it wasn’t an unpleasant atmosphere. I thought I was going home. It was only when they didn’t take my exit that I started to wonder what was going on, she says.

She tried to explain to the men that her children were waiting for her at home and that she needed to get back to them. Her pleas were ignored.

– The short guy was touching me a bit, and they were talking with each other in another language. I think it was Arabic, the woman says.

– They spoke a lot with each other in ways I didn’t understand. I interpreted it as them talking about what they were going to do with me. What they wanted me for.

Eventually, the car stopped in a wooded area in Askim, south of Gothenburg. The men asked her if she wanted to have sex with both of them at the same time, or one at a time. She couldn’t get away and had no choice.

– I agreed to one at a time, the woman says.

Rolling Rape Center

Three days after the rape, the woman called the police control center to report what she had been subjected to that weekend. She wasn’t sure if it was even something she could report.

READ MORE: Four years in prison for Syrian taxi rapist

The operator at the control center took her story very seriously, filed a report, and sent a police patrol to her for further investigation.

This kicked off an intensive effort to identify the perpetrators. Investigators got lucky: A surveillance camera on Avenyn captured the moment when the woman got into the black Mercedes.

The car in question was registered to a woman living in Småland. But it was her 28-year-old son, Walid Zeidan, who used the vehicle. Zeidan, who was born in Sweden to parents who immigrated from Lebanon during the 1980s and 1990s, lives in the Gothenburg area.

The police seized the car. Inside, they found condoms, lubricant, various ointments, wet wipes, vodka, and other items useful if someone plans to assault women.

The strangest find, perhaps, was a handwritten note with instructions. “Be a person who cannot be controlled by a woman”, “Those who are too available, clear with their love or arousal are categorized low by the woman” and “When she tests your boundaries she wants to know if you are a simp”, were among the things written on the note.

Denial of Crime

Zeidan could be linked to the car and, via cellphone data, to the crime scene. His semen was also found on the victim’s clothing.

READ ALSO: Mother and Daughter Took Taxi Home – Daughter Raped by Taxi Driver

When the 28-year-old was questioned by police, he admitted to having sex with the woman but claimed it was on her initiative. He denied committing any crime. He did not rape her, he asserts, and pointed to his union involvement.

– I attended elementary and secondary school in Sweden and have worked in trade unions and undergone feminist training, he explains.

When Zeidan was arrested, the co-perpetrator, by coincidence, was in the car: 42-year-old Mohammad Deeb.

Deeb, who was born in Kuwait and came to Sweden in 2010 after meeting a Swedish woman, is already known to the police. He has been convicted several times for beating his ex-wife. She and their children now have protected identities.

Deeb also denies any crime.

– I have not raped anyone in any way. I deny it! he says.

In December 2025, both Arabs were indicted for aggravated rape. Two days before Christmas Eve, Mohammad Deeb was sentenced. He received five years in prison for aggravated rape.

Forensic Psychiatric Evaluation

However, the court is waiting with the sentencing of Walid Zeidan. The reason is uncertainty about his mental health.

– The other man has been sent for forensic psychiatric examination. He will probably also be convicted, says prosecutor Sara Selheden to Samnytt.

– He is indicted, and the district court has concluded that there is convincing evidence he committed the offence. What is being examined in the forensic evaluation is whether he is so seriously mentally ill that he cannot be sentenced to prison. So this is a matter of sentencing.

Mohammad Deeb has appealed his prison sentence. Sara Selheden, in connection with this, has filed a so-called cross-appeal.

– I think he should get a longer prison sentence, she says.

Isn’t five years in prison a rather long sentence?

– Five years is the minimum sentence for aggravated rape.

Selheden explains that the maximum penalty for aggravated rape is ten years, and she thinks what Deeb has been proven to have done corresponds to between five-and-a-half and six years in prison. The prosecutor believes Walid Zeidan should be sentenced to about the same.

– They were indicted for the same act. They did it together and in concert, says Sara Selheden.

Both men are Swedish citizens. They cannot, therefore, be deported. According to the Gothenburg District Court, Walid Zeidan’s sentence will be determined in early February.

READ ALSO: REVEALED: All Taxi Drivers Who Rape Customers Are Immigrants