Swedish ax murder: Student gets life for killing teacher
STOCKHOLM –
An 18-year-old man who attacked and killed two teachers with an ax at a southern Swedish high school was found guilty on Thursday of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In Sweden, it generally means at least 20 to 25 years in prison, but it can be extended.
Fabian Vidar Cederholm, who was a student at the school in Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, was arrested shortly after the incident on March 21. The defendant was not previously known to the authorities and had no criminal record. Both victims – Victoria Edström and Sara Book – were found on the third floor of the central Malmö Latin School 10 minutes after the police were alerted.
Malmö district court followed the line of prosecutor Johanna Liljeblad, who had requested that Cederholm, who has confessed to the crime, be sentenced to a life sentence. The court said Cederholm killed them “by hacking them to death with an axe.” Judge Johan Kvart said Cederholm also used a knife.
The court said he was sentenced to life imprisonment because “the actions were particularly reckless”, adding that the motive for the violent acts is not fully clear.
“These are two very brutal murders in which the victims suffered greatly,” Kvart said in a statement.
A lawyer for the defendant had previously told Swedish media that the defendant’s actions were “completely inexplicable”.
Students at the school, which has about 1,100 students, had gathered to work on a musical and students locked themselves in classrooms when the attack began.