A Swedish court on Tuesday found a German woman guilty of murdering two toddlers and seriously injuring their mother in a rampage spurred by jealousy over an ex-boyfriend.
A panel of judges found that there was proof to support the charge that Christine Schurrer entered the Swedish family’s home in Arboga, central Sweden, armed with “a hammer or hammer-like object” and that she struck them repeatedly with intent to kill.
The ruling required that Schurrer — who previously had a relationship with the Swedish mother’s boyfriend — undergo a psychiatric examination before the court decides on a sentence. The psychiatric examination will take between four and six weeks.
The 32-year-old has denied involvement in the attack and defense lawyer Per-Ingvar Ekblad told local news agency TT he would appeal the ruling.
One-year-old Saga Jangestig and her three-year-old brother Maximilian died from their injuries in the March attack. Their mother Emma survived but was hospitalized for weeks.
Ekblad has questioned the evidence, pointing to the fact that there is no DNA data linking his client to the crime and that the murder weapon has not been found.
Prosecutor Frieda Gummesson built her case on circumstantial evidence from more than 50 witnesses as well as handwritten and electronic records she claimed prove that Schurrer was resorting to “increasingly drastic measures” to stop her former boyfriend’s new relationship.
The evidence included the exposure of lies in Schurrer’s testimony and a photograph of her wearing a pair of shoes that matched a footprint at the crime scene.
She was also spotted on CCTV footage in Arboga at the day of the murder.
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