A Swedish court has reduced the sentence for an Afghan migrant found guilty of slashing the throat of a Russian prostitute in a hotel room and leaving the woman for dead.
An appeals court has ruled to reduce the 16-year prison sentence of 23-year-old Seyed Alavi, who was found guilty of cutting a Russian woman’s throat in a hotel room in the city of Malmö, by one year but has kept his deportation order in place.
Alavi, originally from Afghanistan, had been sentenced last December over the attack, which left the Russian woman, said to be in her 30s, nearly dead as she managed to escape to the roof of the hotel where she was only found by chance, Expressen reports.
“I remember how much it hurt. I remember it being chilly outside and my blood flowing out warming me. I wanted to die as soon as possible so I wouldn’t have to suffer. I was lying on the roof, the sun was shining and I thought these were my last minutes of life,” the woman previously told Swedish media.
A Swedish court has found an Afghan migrant guilty of raping a woman and pushing her down a mine shaft, sentencing the 41-year-old to “life” for rape and attempted murder. https://t.co/ZkAjby9vaH
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Police were able to identify Alavi after he was caught on the hotel CCTV and he was arrested a few weeks after the attack when police tracked him down through his use of sex websites linked to prostitution.
Jenny Fugleberg, the lawyer for the victim, reacted to the court of appeal reducing Alavi’s sentence and the damages awarded to the victim saying, “Of course, we are not satisfied with the Court of Appeal’s decision, both the issue of damages and the length of the prison sentence,” and said her client had not decided on whether to further appeal the case.
The case is just one of many violent attacks and murders involving Afghan migrants in Sweden in recent years and echoes that of Taher Amini, who was sentenced to life in prison last October after raping a woman and pushing her down a mineshaft, attempting to kill her twice with heavy rocks.
As with the Russian woman, the victim in the case was lucky to survive as she was left down the 80-foot deep pit for hours before being discovered by someone passing by.