Prosecutor: "Without the video it would have been word against word"

The victim was sleepy, had just been cuffed and was being led out by a security guard.

Then another guard approached and kneed him with full force.

- Had no video existed I would probably been convicted instead, says Per, 31, who happened to fall asleep at the central station.


Per and a friend had been out partying but had accidentally missed the last train home.

They laid down on a bench to rest for a while inside the central station in Stockholm

There was Per awakened by a guard who would vacate the premises.

- But I was sound asleep and he thought perhaps that I did not wake up fast enough, says Per actually called something else.

Felt safe

The next moment he lies on the floor and get lots of punches from the security guard. Per gets cuffed and his friend headed out first. Meanwhile another guard is waiting with Per, who feel safe to stand close to a guard.

- Then I was very calm.

When they start to go out the guard who first was on Per return.

- He approaches me and knee me so I fly backwards and hit the floor, says Per.

He gets to spend the night at the police station and when he wakes up, he was told that it is he who has been violent towards the guards - something he immediately declared was a false accusation.

- I said to the police that everything might be on a surveillance video - and that was the case.

"Word had stood against the word"

Without the film the security guard, who is now convicted of assault, had probably has not been sentenced.

- Then we had a situation where the plaintiff's version stood against the security guard's version, and then it would never have been proven what happened, said prosecutor Malin Palmgren.

The accused guard was backed up by his colleague.

- So it was very lucky that there was a video, it's very gratefull in my role to get a completely objective picture of what was occurring.

The security guard was charged with aggravated assault, but the district court held that it was only proved that the offense was of normal rate. The punishment was probation and 120 hours of community service. Had the prison time been chosen, he would have been four months in jail.

"Too low punishment"

The prosecutor believes that punishment is on the low side, but will appeal only if the security guard does.

- It was prosecuted as aggravated assault and where is the penalty of a minimum of one year in prison, says Malin Palmgren.

Per, who had a sore two weeks after the event, think it feels good that the guard was convicted, although he thinks that the damages of 11,200 swedish kronor, was too little.

The security guard had to quit his post in connection with the prosecution, as Per thinks is absolutely right.

- People like him should not work there.