A Swedish man has appealed his conviction for raping 27 juveniles across several countries via webcam.
Bjorn Samstrom, 41, received a 10-year sentence for rape on Thursday after being found guilty of making the teens perform sex acts for him by threatening to publish nude photos of them or kill their relatives.
The teens, who live in the US, Canada and Britain, were made to penetrate themselves with sex toys and – in the case of one Canadian girl – perform sex acts with a pet dog, the National Post reported.
Samstrom denies rape and is now appealing the judgement; defense lawyer Kronje Samuelsson told the press he ‘has been convicted in a way that we do not think is correct.’
Uppsala District Court, Sweden (pictured), convicted a man (not pictured) of raping 27 girls via webcam. Court heard how he threatened girls in the US, Britain and Canada into performing sex acts on camera by saying he would kill their relatives or post their nude pictures online
Samstrom, of Upsalla, 43 miles north of Stockholm, has admitted making contact with the children but claims he cannot remember asking them to perform for him.
The 10-year sentence is the stiffest available in the country. Prosecutors said they want a harsher punishment and intend to appeal on those grounds.
Samstrom’s conviction for online rape is the first of its type in Sweden, and comes as a result of the country’s uniquely worded laws.
They allow for a rape conviction not just from intercourse, but also in cases where there has been an act that is considered to be equally violating.
Defense lawyer Kronje Samuelsson (pictured) said Bjorn Samstrom, 41, should not be convicted of rape. But Swedish laws allow for the charge even if there is no contact, so long as an equally violating act has occurred
The court heard how Samstrom met the 26 girls and one boy – who are from the US, Canada and Britain – online then persuaded them to send him nude pictures.
He then either threatened to post those photos on porn sites, or said he would kill their family members if they did not perform the sex acts for him, prosecutors said.
The juveniles did not know he was in another country. At least one was as young as 13.
Some of the girls were coerced into penetrating themselves with their fingers or objects, the court said.
Another was told that her family’s pet dog ‘had to perform on her, and she had to perform on the dog as well,’ the prosecutor said.
Annika Wennerstrom, one of the prosecutors overseeing the case, said that she was glad that the court agreed that Samstrom had committed rape despite being on another continent.
‘These girls are performing penetrations for a very long time and it hurts and they’re sad and they are very young and it still doesn’t count as a rape,’ she said, of the traditional interpretation of the crime.
‘From their perspective, the perpetrator is present in the room with them, because they can hear his voice and he’s writing to them and instructing them…. They are traumatized in the same way.’
She added that the conviction would prove a deterrent to other predators – and a signal to their victims to come forward.
‘It sends a message, a clear message that this is possible, and you can get 10 years for it,’ she said.
‘It sends a signal to … the children, as well, who are out there and now realize, “I’ve been raped. I had no idea. I thought I did this to myself.”
‘This is a crime that society takes very seriously.’
Samstrom was found guilty of aggravated rape in four cases that involved animals or other children.
He was also convicted of rape in one of the other cases, and aggravated sexual assault or sexual coercion in the rest.
Samstrom made the girls penetrate themselves, and made one perform sex acts on her family dog, the court heard. He denies rape and says he doesn’t recall asking them to perform acts