'15-year-old' Somali who stabbed Swedish social worker to death at children's refugee centre IS over 18, says Migration Agency

Friday, February 12, 2016

Sweden's Migration Agency claims Youssaf Khaliif Nuur (pictured in court) is now believed to be 18 or older, rather than 15 as it was initially thought

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A Somalian migrant alleged to have stabbed a Swedish social worker to death and thought to be aged only 15 is now said to be at least three years older, it has emerged.

Alexandra Mezher, 22, was killed after she tried to break up a knife fight at an adolescent migrant centre where she worked in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Police say she had intervened when Youssaf Khaliif Nuur launched an unprovoked attack on another resident at the centre, suffering fatal knife wounds to the back and thigh.

Psychology graduate Miss Mezher had warned her mother she ‎was caring for 'big powerful guys' aged up to 24 in the shelter for children aged 14 to 17.

Johanna Mahlen, a press spokesperson for Sweden's Migration Agency, told The Local 'the applicant did not make it probable that he was under 18' when he applied for asylum in Sweden.

It follows media reports that Nuur had applied for a work permit in Sweden, despite the obvious fact teenagers do not leave school until they are 18.

Linda Wiking, the case prosecutor, told local paper Goteborgs-Posten he may now be tried in an adult court.
'The migration agency's decision that he is an adult is also relevant in the criminal case,' she said.

A final decision on his exact age will make the difference between getting as little as two years in jail, Professor Jerzy Sarnecki, of Stockholm University's department of criminology, told MailOnline.

'If Yuseef is a minor and only as reported 15 years old, his time in prison will be reduced severely,' he said.
'Minors in the age between 15 to 17 are rarely sent to prison in Sweden. But when someone is convicted of such a serious crime as murder, I would expect that he will get a prison sentence - but the verdict will be much milder then if he was an adult.'
Professor Sarnecki said, if found guilty, Nuur would be sent to a special facility for under-18s, serving a maximum sentence of four years.
However, if he is convicted of manslaughter instead of murder the sentence could be half that - and he would more than likely be allowed to remain in Sweden afterwards.

Even if they do try him as an adult, for which the sentence would be much harsher, he may be allowed to stay.
'If there is a risk that the defendant might get killed, tortured or harmed in any other way in his home country, which could be the case when the defendant is from Somaila,' Professor Sarnecki.

'It depends from what area of the country he is from. If he is from an area controlled by Al Shabaab and not the government, the expulsion will be cancelled after he has served his time in prison and he stays in Sweden.'
But getting a definitive answer on his age looks likely to prove difficult.

'The Swedish courts knows that the scientific ways to determine ones age always leaves a bit of uncertainty,' the professor said. 'There are no absolute methods and the court always needs at least two or three opinions from different branches of the government to be sure.'

Last month a source at Gothenburg Police told MailOnline the alleged murder had begun with an attack on another boy.
‘There was an argument between the suspect and another resident at the hostel,' the source said. 'I don’t know the reason for the argument between the two residents.

‘But in some way this woman got between them. She was trying to break up the fight. Miss Mezher tried to separate them and told the suspect to stop but then he [allegedly] stabbed her.’
The source dismissed any suggestion that the killing had a sexual motive.

He added murder suspect Nuur had had complained of feeling 'unwell' the night before and had not slept at all in the hours before the alleged attack.

It has been suggested that Nuur has psychological issues and had a breakdown in the hours before the attack and complained of hearing voices in his head.

The source revealed: 'The knifeman may have had some kind of breakdown. He may have suffered some trauma previously in his life.'

The source said he was heard pacing around the his bedroom for most of the night before the attack at 8am on Monday.

The Gothenburg Police source told MailOnline: ‘There was no sexual motive in the murder. This Somali boy did not have a motive for the attack other than he was not feeling well.

‘This lady tried to separate them and told him to stop but he stabbed her. The suspect had been up all night. He had said he was not feeling well the night before.’

Managers of the child refugee centre should not have let Miss Mezher work the night shift on her own if they knew one of the residents was suffering a mental health breakdown, the Gothenburg Police source claimed.
He told MailOnline: ‘If the management of the centre knew that one of the residents was not [mentally] well should have got in extra staff to help her that night.

Nuur appeared at Gothenburg District Court last week charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder.
The source, who has worked for Gothenburg Police for over 30 years, has detailed the ‘explosion in crime’ in the Swedish city since the country ‘threw open the doors’ to mass immigration.
He told MailOnline: ‘We have experienced an explosion in crime, particularly violent crime, since our politicians threw open the doors to immigrants from all over the world.

‘I have worked in Gothenburg for more than three decades and I have never known anything like it.
‘The city always had a bit of trouble, but it was usually amongst people who were drunk and knew each other.
‘But now I will not let my children go into the city after 2pm and especially not at night.
‘There are violent gangs roaming around the streets and the use of knives and other weapons have become normal, rather than a rarity as it used to be.

‘There are 20 robberies in Gothenburg every day - usually with violence or the threat of violence.
‘This week an 83-year-old lady had a gun put in her face when she was mugged on her way to play bingo. They got away with just 50 Kroner [about £4].

‘In the summer there were mass shootings with lots of people killed, including a little girl.’
He added the city streets were now at the mercy of gangs of young men mainly from North Africa.
The source revealed: ‘In the past couple of months we have noticed a dramatic increase in street robbery. This is a new phenomenon.

‘They will do anything to get money – steal a person’s wallet, iPhone, jewellery. And then they will attack their victim and kick them half to death.

‘Drug crime has gone through the roof. Every drug is available on the street nowadays, even in broad daylight.
‘And when the police arrest someone nowadays the suspect often fights back – with a knife or a screwdriver. This is not something we have seen before.’

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