Off the wire
• 2nd LD Writethru: One child killed as bus overturns on German motorway  • Market regulator announces big fines for illegality  • China tests 11,000-meter unmanned submersible  • Policeman bribed over spiritual guide's arrest  • Belarus expects U.S. to lift all economic sanctions  • Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Oct. 30  • Bulgarian gov't expects no more than 2 pct budget deficit for 2016  • Pakistan collects earthquake damages data: official  • Denmark to send soldiers, aircraft for Mali peacekeeping mission  • David Gilbert advances to final of 2015 World Snooker International Championship  
You are here: 　 Home

Ikea stabbing spree suspect given life sentence

Xinhua, October 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

A Swedish court on Friday handed a life sentence to an Eritrean asylum seeker who stabbed two people to death at an Ikea mall in August, local media reported.

The 36-year-old was found guilty on two counts of murder for his attack on a mother and a son in the town of Vasteras shortly after immigration officials insisted that he leave Sweden, news agency TT reported.

"There is nothing to stop him being deported to Eritrea," judge Per Kjellsson told the court, according to public broadcaster Swedish Television.

The man, who confessed to stabbing his victims but not to murder, will be deported after serving his sentence.

Inmates serving life sentences in Sweden can ask authorities to set a release date once they have been jailed for 10 years, according to the country's Prison and Probation Service.

"The 36-year-old will spend a long time in an institution and it is not possible to speculate about when his sentence might be assigned a time limit," Kjellson said.

The defendant's lawyer had argued that his client to be sentenced to aggravated assault and aggravated manslaughter with a 17-year sentence. Endit