A girl under the age of 15 was discovered severely injured on a cycling path in Ängelholm by a passerby at 5 pm on Monday. The passerby informed the police and, within a minute, a patrol car and an ambulance were already on the scene providing life-saving measures. The following morning, the police held a press conference with Ängelholm Municipality where they announced that the girl’s health condition improved after undergoing surgery. The police later confirmed the alleged suspect of the knife attack to be a 35-year-old woman who was charged with attempted murder. According to the police, the same woman is suspected to be connected to other violent crimes that took place between May 31 and June 7 in Ängelholm where girls under the age of 18 were attacked with varying degrees of violence. The prosecutor will investigate whether the accused woman is linked to the previous crimes.
The girl, who is under 15 years old, was found seriously injured by a private person on a cycle path in Ängelholm at 5 pm on Monday. The man who found the girl went to the nearest house and was helped to alert the police. A police patrol that was nearby was on the scene within a minute of the alarm call coming in and, together with an ambulance, was able to quickly begin life-saving measures.
On Tuesday morning, the police held a press conference together with Ängelholm Municipality. There it was stated that the girl’s condition was serious when she was found and taken to hospital, but that things are looking a little brighter.
– The girl’s condition is serious, but stable. She was operated on last night, says Christian Nordin, local police area manager, during the press conference.
The police officer on duty in the South region, Jerker Olsson, has confirmed for Swedens radio that the child was exposed to a knife attack. Actions by people on the scene after the attack may have been crucial.
– The girl was cut with a sharp object and the man who found the girl, together with the police who were quickly on the scene, probably saved the girl’s life, says Christian Nordin.
A woman aged 35 was arrested after the incident and detained during the night, on suspicion of attempted murder of the girl. She has been assigned a defense attorney and prosecutor Linda Seger expects that new, in-depth interviews will be held with the woman during the day.
– Probably only a short questioning was held with her during the night and then a more detailed questioning is held with her during the day, says Linda Seger who is the head of the preliminary investigation and was assigned to the case on Tuesday.
There have been several violent crimes in Ängelholm recently, all of which are suspected to have been carried out by a woman. Already last Sunday, the local police issued a call for witness statements and information that can help them in the hunt for the woman.
“The reported incidents took place between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. during the period May 31 to June 7 and were in all cases carried out by a woman,” the police wrote Facebook on Sunday.
The police cannot rule out that there are several perpetrators, but are now investigating whether it is the 35-year-old woman who is behind all the events. According to the police, the signal elements from the previous events at least partially match the woman.
– We have received four reports of varying degrees of violence, the latter two were more serious. We are of course looking at whether it could be the same perpetrator, says Christian Nordin.
In the fourth incident, a stone was used as an object and a girl had to seek hospital treatment. In all events, girls under the age of 18 have been attacked.
The prosecutor must now examine if the suspected woman in Monday’s crime can also be connected to the other crimes.
– It is something that I will follow up on, says Linda Seger.
Helsingborgs Dagblad reported on June 8 that two teenage girls reported being beaten with affection by an unknown woman. It is not confirmed that that case is one of those referred to in the Facebook post – the police do not want to go into what kind of violent crime is involved in the other cases.