‘HONOUR KILLER’
Refugee jailed for strangling pregnant Swede girlfriend rather than face shame of telling family she was having his baby
Saga Forsgren Elneborg, 20, was found strangled to death at her home in Örebro
A COWARDLY refugee who killed his heavily pregnant secret girlfriend last April in a shock murder styled as an ‘honour killing’ has been jailed for life in Sweden.
Swede Saga Forsgren Elneborg, 20, was callously murdered last April because her boyfriend was reportedly too ashamed to admit her pregnancy to his devout Muslim parents.
7
7
7
Somalian refugee Mohamedamin Abdirisek Ibrahim, 22, failed to face the wrath of his family and strangled his partner, who was seven months pregnant with his baby in her flat in Örebro.
Swedish prosecution claimed Ibrahim resorted to this heinous crime because he felt his conservative family would react poorly to a pregnancy out of wedlock.
They alleged that the cruel act took place on the night Ibrahim intended to come clean to his parents and confess that he had a partner, and he got her pregnant.
Ibrahim strangled Saga to death in her own bedroom, by wrapping the cord of her bedside lamp around her neck.
She was found dead by her mother on April 29, 2023 in her apartment, 100 miles west of Stockholm as her baby, due to be named Esaiah, also died.
Ibrahim initially denied wrongdoing and claimed that Saga was murdered in a dramatic gangland killing.
In the trial, he maintained that his partner Saga was killed by a gang who ambushed her in her apartment, with their eyes on a stash of cash planted there by him.
But the court found no evidence of this, leaving his alibi to break down in front of prosecutors and a jury in Örebro district court.
Most read in The Sun
Court proceedings this morning also revealed that the refugee had been romantically involved with other women and not ready to confront the reality of fatherhood.
It was also revealed that Ibrahim promised Saga, who was often pictured beaming with joy cradling her bump in social media posts, that he would move in with her and assume responsibility as a father.
Chilling final texts between the couple were revealed in April.
The mum-to-be’s final messages were sent just after midnight on April 28, 2023, when she was found dead in her Örebro apartment.
"Babe why don't you answer," she wrote.
Ten minutes later, she added: "Baby talk to me."
7
A few hours before, the suspect's texts suggested he was about to reveal his relationship and expected child to his family.
Saved as "Hubby" on Saga's phone, he said at around 7pm: "Feels like I can almost feel my heartbeat all the way down to my stomach."
Saga tried to reassure him, responding: "Just take it easy, they'll be fine babe."
He then stops replying briefly, according to the messages published by Aftonbladet, and then tells Saga that he told one person but they took it well.
"You're not yourself darling," Saga responded.
But investigators found nothing to indicate Ibrahim ever told his family about Saga.
And previous text messages between Saga and Ibrahim show he suggested she have an abortion.
He told her: "'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."
However, Ibrahim was not found to have spent even one whole night with his heavily pregnant girlfriend.
Following his sentencing, court president Lars-Gunnar Lundh said: “The prosecutor has also shown that the murder was honour-related, which the district court considers to be an aggravating assessment of the penalty value.”
Prosecution also showed evidence proving that the foetus died when Ibrahim strangled Saga in her bedroom – and cited the secret nature of their relationship as reason to brand this an honour-related murder, according to local outlet Aftonbladet.
Although Ibrahim’s alibi was refuted in court and he was sentenced to life, his lawyer Soren Abbaszadeh told Swedish broadcaster SVT that Ibrahim intended to appeal the sentence.
His mother Istar Yusuf Nuh, 42, told MailOnline in April she would have warmly welcomed Saga into the family despite not being Muslim and carrying her son’s child out of wedlock.
She said: 'I would have been happy if Amin had met a girl and for me it wouldn't matter if she was Swedish or not.
Read More on The US Sun
'I would have been happy if he showed me the girl. If Amin had come home and told me that he had got a girl pregnant, I would have been happy to become a grandmother, and especially a young grandmother’.
Istar told the outlet she had no knowledge of his romantic relationship with Saga or any other woman.
7
7
7
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service - available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.