Plaintiff has stated the following.
G. was 14 at the time when the attack took place. She had been to a party with two friends and was on the way home. She had been drinking alcohol, some vodka which was available at the party and which she mixed with Pepsi Cola, but has clear memories of the event. She and her two friends took the night bus and got off at the corner of Trädgårdsgatan and Holmsväg. G. continued alone for the last two hundred metres to her home. The time was approximately three o’clock in the morning. The sun was up and lighting conditions were good. A green Saab family car pulled in beside her. There were three young men and a youth inside. She had a clear view of all four of their faces as they were leaning towards her to see her. One of them she recognized. He was a man she had ‘dated’ twice recently she said. The underage youth was driving. The man she knew asked her if they could give her a lift. He spoke normal Swedish with no accent. She has identified this man as H. A. whom she had met twice before. She told H. A. she was almost home and he said he knew that but to get in for a few minutes anyway. They had been intimate on one occasion some two weeks earlier and she liked him and she did as he suggested. When she got in she sat on his knee. He began to kiss her and touch her breasts and then he suggested that they make love. She said it was too late, she was tired and she wanted to get home but he persuaded her. The other three got out of the car and walked a little way and stood with their backs turned. She and H. A. began to fondle each other. He opened the door so that they could stretch out and she lay down on the seat and he took off her panty hose and her underpants and they had sex.
She and H. A. were lying there after sex when a man she has identified as S. G. walked up to the open car door and said, ‘How about me?’ in English. She said no but H. A. backed out of the car and said, ‘He’s just here as a visitor, be decent to him and I’ll make it up to you.’ S. G., who was still outside the car, forcefully lifted her legs against her will and pressed them down against her chest and then penetrated her anally. It was very painful. She screamed but one of the men she has identified as Y. B. opened the car door at her head and put his arm across her throat and his other hand on her breast holding her down while S. G. continued to penetrate her. While he did so the other man, identified as Y. B., opened her blouse and pulled up her bra and was rubbing her breasts. When S. G. was finished H. A. took his place and penetrated her again, this time anally. Y. B. was now rubbing and penetrating her vagina with his fingers while he still kept his other arm hard on her throat. Y. B. got out of the car and his place was taken by S. G. who held her down in the same way. This was done too quickly for her to be able to try to get free. S. G. squeezed her breasts painfully while Y. B. went around the car to the door on the other side and penetrated her vaginally. She realized then that the fourth person in the car, the youth she later identified as Habib Selavas, was filming the scene with a video camera. All of them said things in a foreign language which she knows to be Chaldean. She recognizes Chaldean because there are Chaldean and Assyrian pupils in the school she goes to. She also heard what she thought were Arabic phrases and she heard German once or twice. When they had finished she was taken out of the car by one of the men, she did not see which because she was weeping too heavily. He put her underclothes in her arms and told her that if she went to the police she’d be killed. ‘That’s what we do,’ he said. ‘We have friends who come here and will kill you.’ H. A. said something to him in Chaldean and to her he said, ‘Don’t listen to him. He talks rubbish. You’re our friend, we’ll take care of you. Go on home now and have a shower and go to bed and tomorrow everything will be all right. I’ll give you a ring next week and we’ll do something fun together.’ She was sobbing so hard she couldn’t breathe. The car drove off. Her face felt swollen and her lip was bleeding. Then she tried to shout but no one came. Finally she made her way to a garden gate and went in and rang the doorbell until someone put their head out an upstairs window and asked her what she wanted. Then they came down and let her in. The woman comforted her while the man rang the police. The police drove her straight to the hospital where she was examined and samples were taken from her vagina and her anus.
Dan paused in his reading and drew in his breath. He let his eyes drift down the page. The next title in bold letters further down was:
Summary of medical file
The medical file states that on arrival at the hospital G. showed signs of recent violence in the form of bruises on the face, on the throat, on the thoracic vertebrae, on both arms and on both thighs, as well as lacerations in the anus. The facial bruise was consistent with a blow to the right-hand maxilla. The throat injuries were consistent with a stranglehold on the throat, the arm bruises were consistent with forceful restraint and the thigh bruises indicated strong pressure of a kind that could be used to force the legs apart. The lacerations in the anus were fresh and indicated recent violent penetration. A quantity of human sperm remained in the anus and in the vagina, in addition to sperm that had run down the insides of both thighs. The patient was in a highly stressed state. The state of the injuries was consistent with having occurred at the time specified earlier that morning.
Dan stopped again. Jesus Christ!
‘Turn to the page with Habib Selavas’s testimony,’ Lena said. ‘I have to go in a few minutes and I want to ask you something. Here.’
Habib Selavas states that he was born in Iraq and came to Sweden at the age of eight and has been a resident of Sweden since then. He was fifteen years old at the time the incident took place. On the night in question he left the flat where his family lived shortly after midnight without waking his grandparents or his sister, all three of whom had gone to bed at between ten and half past ten and were asleep. He was to meet the other three defendants in the Stratford Arms bar in central Södertälje but since he was under age the doorman would not allow him in. He waited outside and when H. A. and the others came out H. A. told him to get a car and come and wait for them outside his flat, they were going to arrange a present for S. G. who was on a visit from Germany. Habib Selavas had already spotted an old Saab earlier that evening, a model that did not have a modern locking system and that he could easily break into and wire up. He knows cars because they have always been a hobby of his. With two school friends he had begun to take cars for joyrides at the age of fourteen. That was when he learnt to drive. He had earlier told H. A. he could get him a car any time he liked. He wanted to impress H. A. because H. A. was the leader of a group called Shlama (Peace) who had a basement place they rented where they met and had parties and other get-togethers and they got Swedish girls drunk and had music and dancing and sex with the girls. On the night in question he drove to H. A.’s address as H. A. had told him to and then waited. Y. B., S. G. and H. A. came out together and got in the car. All three of them had been drinking. H. A. had a small video camera he put on the floor in front. Then H. A. told him to drive to Salem, and he would direct him from there. Habib Selavas understood that they were to meet a girl there, that someone had telephoned from a party and said she was leaving now with two girlfriends. ‘One each,’ H. A. said. They all talked Chaldean so that S. G. would understand, although his Chaldean was different from theirs. What S. G. did not understand Y. B. told him in Arabic or H. A. told him in German. After about twenty minutes they saw the girl, G., and H. A. said, ‘There she is. The other two must live somewhere else.’ H. A. knew the girl from before and he asked her if she wanted to get in the car. G. said she was near home and could walk what was left. She sounded a bit drunk. H. A. persuaded her and she got in and sat on his lap and they kissed. Then H. A. told them all to get out of the car and walk ahead a bit. After a while when the grunting from the car was quiet S. G. went back and they heard the girl shout. Then Y. B. went back and she was quiet. Habib Selavas states that he did not look because he did not want to see what was happening, but H. A. told him to get in the car and take the video camera lying on the floor and film them so that S. G. would have a souvenir to take
home to Germany. H. A. told S. G., who was holding her down, to pull her blouse and bra higher up so that her breasts would be on the film. Habib Selavas filmed from then on. When they were all finished Y. B. helped G. out of the car. He gave her her underclothes and said she must not tell anyone. H. A. said she had been a great girl and that he wanted to see more of her and he would ring. Then he told Habib Selavas to drive them to his home. There the three got out. H. A. told Habib Selavas to make sure he wiped clean all the hard surfaces of the car they might have touched. Then he told Habib Selavas that he had driven well and that he would give him some money the next time they met but that if he said anything about tonight to anyone he would be killed. That was a promise. Habib Selavas asked him again if he could become a member of Shlama and H. A. said they’d see next time. Habib Selavas states that he has been in trouble with the police before in connection with using cars without the owners’ permission and driving without a licence. The owner of the green Saab reported his car was missing and when a patrol car saw it the officers noted that it had the same marks on the luggage boot lock as Habib Selavas and a few other adolescents had caused when breaking into other cars. When the police collected Habib Selavas from school and took him for questioning, he said he was ashamed of what had been done to the girl and he told them everything.
‘On another page you can see that they all got three years prison and have to pay damages but Habib Selavas was given one year in youth custody for the theft of a vehicle and driving without a licence. One of the others is the younger brother of a well-known Assyrian gang leader who runs a protection racket around Södertälje. They’re really tough. They use submachine guns, smash kneecaps with a sledgehammer, that sort of stuff. And he’s offering money to anyone who can find Habib Selavas. They don’t know he has a new identity.’
‘You’re saying Gabriel negotiated with the police to get a lighter sentence?’ It didn’t sound likely to Dan. Not the Gabriel he knew.
Lena said no. Johan Ek had told her it didn’t work like that in Sweden. It was against the law to give a reduced sentence in return for evidence. But witnesses under threat can be offered protection.
‘Johan said the usual way is to arrange identity protection. All official data about them are marked secret and can only be accessed with the approval of the National Police Board. And that’s what the Selavas family got. You see? When they moved from Södertälje no one could trace where they’d gone. And when they arrived here on Blidö all they had to say was that they’d been living in Malmö. There was nothing in the official records to contradict them. And who was going to bother to check anyway?’
But there was more. Since Habib Selavas was the one in serious danger, Lena said, he had obviously been given a new identity, which meant he was granted Swedish citizenship right away so that he could be given Swedish ID papers and a Swedish passport. And that was how he’d gone to France and come back under the name of Gabriel Rabban and moved in with the Selavas as a relative.
‘Here’s the interesting part, DeeJay, this is the thing I needed to ask Johan about. I knew that foreigners need permission to buy real estate in Sweden, but I didn’t know if that applied to an inheritance. Johan said the law had been changed a few years back and foreigners could now inherit property without asking permission. Their names are entered in the land registry as owners and that’s all. I didn’t tell Johan about what I’d found out but it was obvious that if the Selavas were under a witness-protection scheme no one would be able to look up their background without permission from the National Police Board. But the local people would know their names, and local journalists would hear of it. A human-interest story like that could quickly reach the national dailies. Maybe even television. So the poison pygmy arranged it differently. She saw to it that the will named Gabriel as inheritor. There was nothing to be said about that. He’d arrived here from France already a Swedish citizen, he worked on the farm, the widow took a liking to him and what else did anyone need to know? I haven’t said anything about this to anyone because I want your advice first, DeeJay. I have two threats I can make: either I get in touch with this thug in Södertälje, which means the Selavas leave Sweden fast, or I spread this document over the island, which would probably mean they could still live in some other secluded place in Sweden. Either way they make no claim to the farm.’
‘But you wouldn’t really let these gangsters know about them?’
‘I’m pretty sure the threat will be enough to make them leave.’
‘And go where?’
‘That’s their business. Back to France or something.’
He thought hard. Lena, still naked, sat on the edge beside him. Her eyes were on his face, looking for signs.
‘Maybe your Aunt Solveig knew all about them, maybe they told her.’
‘That a fourteen-year-old girl was gang raped? She wouldn’t have let them over her threshold. Anyway all that’s beside the point. I’m going to meet Gabriel in less than half an hour and after that he’ll withdraw his claim from the probate court. He has no choice. These gang leaders live off protection money. They have to show they’re ruthless or no one will pay. The Selavas would have to skip the country.’
‘Where are you going to meet Gabriel?’
‘In their barn. I got a friend to ring Gabriel and tell him I need to see him at twelve thirty tonight, when the others are asleep. I’m going to demand a signed handwritten statement from Gabriel renouncing his claim. I’ve checked and a document like that is called a holograph and it’s as valid as a witnessed statement. If the pygmy tries to get him to withdraw it later, I’ll let her know I’ll release the court documents.’
‘Lena, are you sure this is wise?’
‘Don’t worry, DeeJay. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time now. I know how to handle Gabriel. Or Habib, rather. He can slip out once she’s asleep, he’s done it before. And I’ll be back long before you wake up. I’ll creep in and join you in bed again. And I’ll bring you breakfast on a tray. How’s that for a dim little housewife?’
‘No. It’s not a risk you can take. They’ve been through an appalling experience in Iraq and they may do things they wouldn’t normally do to prevent anything like it happening again.’
‘That’s why I have to deal with Gabriel alone. If the pygmy gets involved there won’t be any agreement. All I’ll have left then is to hand it over to the gangsters in Södertälje.’
‘That’s out of the question, Lena! Gabriel would be killed. You said so yourself.’
‘It’s up to the pygmy.’
She started dressing. Dan said, ‘Wait until morning and go and reason with her then.’
‘She doesn’t work by reason, she works by cunning and hate. Anyway I’ll make sure Gabriel and I reach an agreement first. In writing. Then she can do what she likes.’
‘And if she insists on going with Gabriel to meet you?’
‘She won’t know. That’s the point. He’ll be told on the telephone to make sure she doesn’t. And if she follows him we’ll take their boat across to Svartholm. That’s the one place we’ll be safe. Without the boat she has no way of getting there. I’m not going to be vindictive, DeeJay. I just want what’s mine.’
‘Lena—’
‘There are an awful lot of shitty people in the world, DeeJay. They’d cheat me just as they’ve been cheating me all along. Listen – right from the beginning that’s what amazed me about you – you could be here on your own and stay sane. You asked nothing of anyone. I knew that I could accept your hospitality without thinking of what you’d want in return. You’ve no idea how much that meant to me.’
‘Lena, don’t go!’
‘I know how to take care of myself.’
‘Not in a situation like this.’
‘One thing this awful bloody life of mine has taught me – how to handle violent men. Believe me, I’ve had practice. I don’t care if I blind them. I’m not taking any more batterings, not from anyone.’
‘L
ena, I forbid you to go!’
‘I’m an adult, DeeJay. I make my own decisions. Let’s think of what it’s going to be like when I’ve got the farm. We’ll be neighbours. And I’m going to invite you over hundreds of times to make up for all you’ve done for me. I’ll cook you meals you can’t dream of. I swear! There’s more to me than this scatty front I’ve had to put on.’
‘You’re not going to meet Gabriel in the middle of the night, Lena. You’re not going!’
‘What are you? My father? DeeJay, we’re beyond this kind of thing, both of us. I’ll be back.’
‘No! Lena—’
She was already gone. He heard her run down the stairs and, before he could follow, the sound of the kitchen door being closed. He lay back thinking of her. She was no longer the flippant kid he’d met on a snowy road. She was a woman in charge of her life now – and he didn’t doubt her when she said it was going to be a different life.
What would the Selavas do? Go back to France? It didn’t seem likely. Once in France they’d come in contact with other Iraqis – sooner or later word would leak out about them. They were safe here. No one doubted their story. Even Sune Isaksson hadn’t suspected anything was wrong. Thinking of which, he hadn’t seen Sune in a while. The last time they spoke Sune had said he was flying to Copenhagen for a week while he still could. It would be his last trip. On his way back he was going to stay in Stockholm long enough to clear out the flat he rented there and give the landlord notice.
‘I’m giving the furniture and stuff to the Salvation Army. I don’t suppose you want my motorboat?’
‘I don’t have anywhere to go in it, Sune.’
‘There are hundreds of tiny islands out there nobody ever sets foot on. Before the divorce the boys and I used to set off in the boat looking for hidden treasure. We had fun in those days.’
‘I’m sure you’ll find a buyer for it when the summer people come out next year.’
In the Name of Love Page 21