Five teenagers convicted for the murder of Swedish taxi driver

A Swedish court has handed down sentences to four teenage brothers and a 15-year-old girl for their involvement in the murder of a man the girl had accused of rape. The victim, a taxi driver, was discovered hanged in a nature reserve in central Sweden in March. The court determined that due to the prior allegations made by the girl, the victim had been lured to the reserve under the pretense of sexual favors. The attack was carried out by overpowering the victim, whose body wasn't found until a week later. The oldest brother, who was 18 at the time, received a life sentence, while the other four, who were minors during the incident, were sentenced to three to four years in a young offenders' institution. The three older brothers were convicted of murder, while the girl and her boyfriend, who were also 15 during the crime, were found guilty of aiding and abetting the murder, although they were not present at the scene. The court believed that the perpetrators intended to conceal the death as a suicide. The convictions were based on circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution, which included messages exchanged between the teenagers, suggesting a plot to commit murder. The girl had informed a friend four days before the victim's disappearance that his brothers were going to confront her alleged rapist, to which one brother responded, "We should do Friday" - referring to the day of the murder - and another replied, "OK." Following the killing, one of the brothers used the victim's phone to transfer money from his bank account. Although the girl claimed she was unaware of the brothers' intentions to kill the man, stating that she believed they would only physically harm him, the court concluded that the brothers had planned the murder and purchased the rope used in the hanging. The court believed that the intention was for the victim to be hanged with the rope.