In November 2020, a 25-year-old man was shot and killed by two perpetrators, who were seen by a key witness wearing a hood and a black face mask. The shooter, a 20-year-old man with connections to the KB gang, was identified through surveillance footage meeting another person and receiving a cell phone the day before the murder. The victim had loose connections to a rival gang and was a rapper who had released a song attacking them. The motive for the murder is unclear, but there may be drug-related conflicts between the gangs. The prosecutors rely on circumstantial evidence, such as a found silver BMW allegedly used as a getaway car, to link the accused to the murder. The trial takes a significant turn when a crown witness, suspected of another crime, provides information that the accused confessed to the murder while in custody. The defense lawyer dismisses the crown witness’s statement as driven by bias and incentives to lie. The prosecutors hope that the district court will consider all evidence in the case, including the crown witness’s testimony, to make a credible ruling on the case.
Eight shots are fired. Two bullets hit the victim, a 25-year-old man, who dies; shrapnel from a ricochet hits the hand of a man who will become a key witness for the prosecution.
He doesn’t get to see much of what happens when the shots are fired, but he does see two men, a hood and a black face mask.
According to the prosecutor, the shooter on this November day 2020, a 20-year-old man at the time who has certain connections to the KB gang, a criminal network from Kristineberg, one of the neighborhoods in Borås that is on the police’s list of particularly vulnerable areas.
The murdered 25-year-old, on the other hand, has loose connections to a gang from another district, Norrby. The 25-year-old is a rapper and has released a song on YouTube where he attacks the rival gang.
Photo: The police
At the same time, DN’s police sources in Borås say that the murder came as something of a surprise. The 25-year-old had no central role in the gang at Norrby and he does not seem to have been involved in the network’s criminal activities.
There is no evidence that clearly points to an apparent motive.
– But we believe that the investigation can show that there is conflict between them these days. It has been shown on surveillance footage that he [offret] has moved threateningly towards him (the murder suspect). There are signs that it may be drug-related, says prosecutor Andreas Ekengren.
The suspected killer and the murder victim is caught on video the day before the murder. In images from a surveillance camera, they are seen shaking hands and seeming to exchange a few words with each other.
The 22-year-old completely denies the suspicions leveled against him. He states that he was not at the scene when the shots fell and says that he has nothing wrong with the murdered man.
Photo: The police
However, the 25-year-old seems to have been a red flag for the gang from Kristineberg. As early as 2016, he was the victim of an attempted murder and was shot several times. A man who is part of the KB gang is convicted by the District Court, but acquitted by the Court of Appeal.
Almost four months after the murder in 2020, the suspected shooter is in custody, but it will be until March of this year before he is charged. In the meantime, he has managed to be released from custody – and re-arrested, as a suspect in another case.
For the prosecutor, the key in the murder case will be new evidence. In the summer of 2022, a silver BMW is found which is said to have been used as a getaway car after the murder. The car has been observed by several witnesses and some of them wrote down the registration number after hearing the shots.
But there is no technical evidence that ties the accused to the murder scene: No DNA traces, no blood, no gunpowder spatter, no murder weapon.
Photo: The police
– Some call it a circumstantial case, and you have to judge that for yourself. I think that the investigation at least shows that there were two perpetrators at the scene, says Andreas Ekengren.
So, last December, something happens that can have a completely decisive significance for the case. Now a man is appearing as a crown witness, the first in a Swedish trial to testify in a case where the witness himself is not a suspect.
The witness is indeed suspected of serious crime, but in a completely different case. According to his own statement, he himself is the leader of a criminal gang and the fact that he is now providing information about the murder at the University of Borås should be seen as a mitigating circumstance in his own case.
What he has to say is nothing short of a bombshell. He has been in custody together with the accused 22-year-old and claims that he admitted in custody that he is the murderer.
From the suspected murderer, the crown witness is said to have received instructions that he would pass on to others in the 22-year-old’s gang, and the prosecutor believes that his story is credible.
– I mean that the information he provides is of great importance, says Andreas Ekengren and continues:
– The accused tells how this happened. He is said to have told that he was at the scene, that there were two perpetrators, how it happens when you shoot, that it is difficult to aim the weapon, that you have the car parked some distance away. And he also mentions certain witnesses by name.
The 22-year-old murder suspect’s lawyer Ulrik Smedberg dismisses the Crown witness’s statement completely.
– This crown witness has directly opposing interests in relation to my principal. He claims to be a gang leader who says negative things about my main man, in a case he is not involved in and where he has nothing to lose. He just has to win. He has a strong incentive to lie, says Smedberg.
Although the prosecutor Andreas Ekengren considers the Crown witness’s information to be credible, he says that it must be seen together with other evidence.
Photo: The police
He hopes that the district court will see the whole of the case and refers to a ruling in the Supreme Court from February this year, where a 25-year-old man was convicted of a murder in Märsta outside Stockholm. Several witnesses saw the murder, but none managed to see the killer’s face. The man was convicted by the District Court, but acquitted by the Court of Appeal. In the highest instance, the sentence was set at life and HD ruled that a sufficiently strong chain of circumstantial evidence must be sufficient for a conviction.
– There is no technical evidence or mobile connections to show that he was at this location. You could call it a circumstantial case in that way. There it is interesting with HD’s determination of the goal from Stockholm, says Andreas Ekengren.
Lawyer Ulrik Smedberg believes that the testimony of the crown witness can have a great impact on how the district court judges because his client, the suspected murderer, remained in custody after the trial and is subject to restrictions.
– The reason why my principal was subject to restrictions is that, according to the prosecutor, my principal has tried to get information out of custody, through the crown witness. It was the prosecutor’s argument that there would be restrictions. And the district court accepted that and gave him restrictions. Then I cannot draw other conclusions than that the district court believes the crown witness, he says.
Judgment is expected on Tuesday, April 11.