A Somalian man living in Sweden has been charged with strangling his heavily pregnant girlfriend to death in what prosecutors say is a suspected honour-killing.
22-year-old Mohamedamin Abdirisek Ibrahim was charged with the murder of 20-year-old Saga Forsgren Elneborg who was found dead at her apartment in Örebro which is two hours outside Stockholm.
It is suspected that Ibrahim killed the mother of his child because he didn’t want to introduce her to his Muslim family who he believed would not have approved of the relationship as Saga was not Muslim herself and of a different ethnicity.
It was reported that he had hidden his two year relationship with her.
Swedish police released a 1,000 page report containing photos of Saga’s bedroom and a lampshade, the cord of which they believe was used to strangle her.
Her body was found beside her bed in late April last year.
It appears that no charges have been brought against Ibrahim in relation to the death of his unborn son who also died.
Swedish media outlets have reported that Ibrahim had promised Saga that he would tell his family about her and had said he would do so on the day of her murder.
It was reported that he grew up in a family that did not approve of relationships with ‘white girls’ and that he had concealed his relationship with Saga.
Swedish prosecutor Elizabeth Anderson who described Saga’s death as a “cruel and reckless murder” alleged in a statement that Ibrahim killed his girlfriend “by suffocating and strangling her by means of pressure on her neck with an impact on the trachea and the blood supply to the head.”
Yahoo news reported that Ibrahim had come to Sweden as a refugee.
In text messages exchanged between the pair after Ibrahim had promised to tell his family about his relationship and unborn child, he said: “Feels like I can almost feel my heartbeat all the way down to my stomach walla,” to which Saga replied, “Just take it easy, it’ll be fine babe,”.
Prosecutors say that there is a large amount of evidence against the 22-year-old including his DNA being found at the crime scene as well as DNA taken from under Saga’s fingernails.
Text messages seen by prosecutors reveal that Ibrahim had asked Saga to abort their child but that she had been excited about being a mother and refused.
In a message sent to Saga on learning of her pregnancy, he wrote, “I know we can make it, but I won’t be able to keep my family. If it had been possible, there would have been no problem with keeping the child,”.
Saga’s family said the year it took before Ibrahim was charged with her murder was “long and painful”.
Swedish outlet Nerikes Allehanda reported comments made by her mother on how happy she was about her pregnancy, saying “She was so happy. She would move to a new apartment and start her life as a mother. This is the worst thing imaginable.”
The Daily Mail reported that Saga’s sister heard their mother screaming over the phone when she discovered her daughter’s lifeless body with the lamp cord still wrapped around her neck.
It was reported that Saga was of mixed Swedish and Thai descent and a Christian.