An asylum seeker who pushed a 91-year-old widow down a flight of stairs had been released on parole for rape at the time and had avoided deportation by Swedish authorities due to ‘soft’ rules, local media reported.
Karam Kanjo, 26, was caught on CCTV footage from the train station attacking his elderly victim before ripping her gold necklaces from her neck as she headed to her husband’s grave on August 29.
The Syrian national has now been found guilty of aggravated robbery and will be deported after Sweden tightened its rules on removing immigrants convicted of crimes.
Court documents seen by MailOnline show that Kanjo has been ticketed by police 19 times and has had a string of convictions since arriving in Sweden in 2015, including for theft and rape, of which he was found guilty in May 2022.
He received a prison sentence of two years and six months for the sex attack, but prosecutors did not seek deportation at the time, police said. Swedish mediaprobably because he had been living in Sweden for six years.
Karam Kanjo, 26, was caught on train station CCTV attacking his elderly victim on August 29. He had previously been convicted of rape and robbery
The attack took place at Sollentuna station, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) northwest of Stockholm, with CCTV footage (pictured) capturing the shocking incident.
The pair were seen halfway up a flight of stairs in the train station, before the man (above right) grabbed the older women (above left).
They tumbled down the stairs together as he tried to pull her chains from her neck. A commuter was seen running past as the man dragged the elderly women to the ground
The man and the older woman in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. He grabbed her chains from her after pulling her to the ground
After serving only half his sentence, Kanjo was released on parole in October last year. His attack on the elderly widow was carried out while he was still on parole.
The gruesome video of Kanjo’s attack has shocked Sweden and revived the country’s debate on migration and the effectiveness of the criminal justice system.
It has raised questions as to why he was not deported following his rape conviction, with Expressen reporting that the prosecutor ‘does not recall why she did not demand deportation, but “suspects” she had “good reason”.
The decision came after a 2019 Supreme Court ruling in a similar case that “extraordinary reasons” would be needed to deport someone who had lived in Sweden for more than four years.
Kanjo apparently benefited from this precedent in May 2019 – just months before the then Minister of Justice tightened the rules, according to Expressen.
Last Monday, Kanjo was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison and ordered to be deported back to Syria after being convicted of aggravated robbery, a violation of Sweden’s knife laws and a drug offense.
The court ruled that Kanjo – who has lived in Sweden for almost a decade after entering during the European migrant crisis in 2015 – has a “very weak” link with the country.
His violent crime was captured on camera in August at Sollentuna station, eight miles northwest of Stockholm, a fragment that served as a key piece of evidence in his conviction.
Karam Kanjo (pictured) has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for the attack
In it, he is seen grabbing his elderly victim as she walked up the stairs at the station.
The 91-year-old is seen struggling before the pair tumble down the stairs as he holds her chains, leaving the woman with a number of injuries.
A witness to the attack is seen trying to run to safety, leaving the elderly woman behind.
After the pair roll to the bottom of the stairs, Kanjo stands up and rips off her chains, before calmly walking away, leaving the older woman on the ground as two female commuters run down the stairs to help her.
According to court documents obtained by MailOnline, the necklaces were gifts she received more than 40 years ago.
When the victim was questioned by police, she said she was terrified by the event and had never experienced such violence in her life.
As well as being deported, Kanjo has also been ordered to pay compensation of 93,100 Swedish kronor (£6,700) to his victim.
A judge said Kanjo’s crime was “life-threatening” given the age of his victim. The judge said the elderly woman “suffered swelling in her left hip and left arm, bruising on the legs, bruises on the left arm and heavy skin scraped by the chains around the neck.”
“The swelling set in and (caused) pain for several weeks.”
The victim was placed on the ground and her chains were pulled from her neck
‘Even a fall to the ground could have caused serious fractures. Now the fall happened carelessly down a flight of stairs.
“It appears to be a fortunate coincidence that (the victim) did not sustain any very serious injuries in the fall. Although no legal statement or the like has been submitted in the case, the court is of the opinion that given the age (of the victim), it is clear that the violence that Karam Kanjo used against her was life-threatening.’
He will also be banned from returning to Sweden after he is deported, according to court documents.
Despite fighting to have the deportation order overturned, Swedish authorities told the Attunda court that his “link with Sweden… is very weak.”
“According to the Norwegian Correctional Service’s investigation, he lives in destructive social conditions without housing of his own and is unemployed,” the court was told.
He reportedly told the court that if he was sent home, he would ‘subjected to torture or inhuman treatment.’
Sweden has seen a “net outflow of immigrants” this year for the first time in decades, according to Annika Sandlund, the UNHCR representative for the Nordic and Baltic countries.
The country’s government, led by the Moderate Party and backed by the far-right Sweden Democrats, has increasingly restricted laws regarding asylum seekers.
Kanjo was caught on CCTV attacking the elderly widow, who was on her way to visit her husband’s grave
For after years of horrific gangland violence, largely blamed on Sweden’s rising migrant population, the centre-right government has slammed the border and announced a series of harsh measures aimed at reducing the number of foreign-born residents, which currently stands at more than 20 state. percent of the total of 10.6 million.
Among the policy proposals is an offer of just under £26,000 for legal immigrants willing to return voluntarily to their country of origin; the tightening of family reunification and asylum rules; and a more than doubling of the income threshold for those seeking a work visa – from £970 per month to £2,200.
Another similar law being pursued by the government is a so-called “traitor law” that would require public sector workers to report illegal immigrants.
In addition to tightening entry restrictions, the government also hopes to encourage thousands of migrants who have settled here legally to leave voluntarily.
The new Migration Minister Johan Forssell recently boasted: ‘We are in the middle of a paradigm shift in our migration policy.’
Right-wing politician Nima Gholam Ali Pour – himself an Iranian refugee – told the Mail ‘Sweden has had very difficult problems with immigration in recent years’.
‘We have areas where 90 percent are immigrants, who do not accept Swedish values and where ethnic Swedes have had to move.
‘Most people don’t want Sweden to resemble the Middle East. And why should we receive more migrants if we can’t integrate those who are already here?’
Especially in the past decade, Sweden’s plans to create a harmonious, pluralistic society have not come to fruition.
The country that once had one of the lowest crime rates in Europe is now the continent’s gun crime capital, fueled by violent gangs disproportionately made up of first-generation migrants who control the country’s illegal drug and prostitution trade .
According to a 2023 police report, there are an estimated 14,000 active gang members in Sweden, along with another 48,000 people who are ‘gang affiliated’, many of whom are only nine or ten years old.
In the first six months of this year alone, Sweden was hit by no fewer than 148 shootings, resulting in twenty deaths. Last year, 55 people were shot dead in 363 incidents.
In 2022, there were a record 62 fatal shootings, while 73 people between the ages of 15 and 20 were arrested for suspected murder or attempted murder with a firearm.