Published 05.57
A knife went through the neck and into the brain. After the brutal beating, Alex is paralyzed.
It was three years ago, but the investigation is completely at a standstill.
– I have no life, what do I have left? he says.
Late one night, Alex and his friend got into an argument with a person. More joined in and Alex got a knife in the neck. It went through the spine, spinal cord and into the brain.
He was on the ground and could not get up while the people continued to hit him and shout things.
In a video that Aftonbladet has seen, you can see how Alex is lying on the ground, bleeding from the neck and unable to get up. People beat him and humiliate him by, among other things, urinating on him.
He was taken by ambulance to hospital and was sedated for some time. Alex suffered an injury to his spinal cord and is paralyzed on one side of his body. He now uses a wheelchair to get around.
Fluid leaks from the brain leading to constant headaches and trouble remembering things.
– My memory is not the same.
Alex, who was in his 20s at the time of the assault, will never recover but has undergone several surgeries to ease the pain.
– Every time they open the surgical scar, there is a risk that I will be paralyzed throughout my body, but I have to, I have no choice.
The investigation is ongoing – 3 years later
Although the assault took place over three years ago, the investigation is still ongoing. This means that Alex cannot receive any compensation from the insurance company as a completed legal process is required for a decision. He says that he has contacted the police several times to see how the case is going.
– Once I received an answer that the person in charge had quit, another time that no one had the case and they say I should be patient.
– I have no life, what do I have left? I have lost my life, my health, I cannot work.
Alex is in limbo.
He is unable to work due to his health condition and receives no compensation as there is no completed legal process.
– They travel and live their lives completely as if they have done nothing.
He was only summoned for questioning in May this year.
“The police didn’t know”
Over a month after he ended up in hospital, when he had his first surgery and had just started his rehab, the police called. They told us that Alex was suspected of robbery and assault.
– I didn’t understand anything and said that I have a spinal cord injury from that evening. The police didn’t know about it.
Only then did Alex file a police report regarding the assault against him.
Since then, he has received various messages about whether he is a suspect or not.
In August 2025, the police say that the case is closed, but in April 2026 they call and say that Alex is still a suspect and will come for questioning, he says.
– I said ‘what are you talking about’, your colleague suspected me earlier but then said it was closed.
– ‘There is no information I can see’, the investigator told me, says Alex.
No responsible investigator
The police and the prosecutor’s office do not have the same picture of who is currently responsible for the investigation into the assault against Alex.
The police state that there is no active investigator in the case.
“There are directives in the case about what is to be carried out in the future, but these will have to wait until a new case manager can get a hold of it,” writes the police spokesperson.
“At the moment, in other words, you need to turn to the public prosecutor’s office.”
The deputy chief prosecutor tells Aftonbladet that he cannot answer specific questions about the case and why the investigation is taking so long. He states that the prosecutor has reminded the police in 2023 and 2024 of directives for investigative measures to be taken. There are also “fairly extensive directives” from April 2026, he believes.
– The prosecutor does not control the police’s resources, he says.
– This matter has not been prioritized high enough by the police.
144 days
In 2023, the median time from case registration to prosecution in assault cases was 144 days, according to the latest statistics from the Crime Prevention Council. For closed preliminary investigations is the median time 38 days.
Looking at all crime categories, the median time is 47 days.
For Alex, it has been over three years and despite the fact that there is video of the assault, and that he knows who the people are, the incident is still under investigation. He can’t work, he has constant headaches and feels down about the future.
– I have lost everything.
Alex is actually called something else.
The union: Insufficient staffing
More police officers on external duty mean that more cases come in, but it is not dimensioned for that on the investigative side, the members of the Police Association state in a new Novus survey.
64 percent of investigating police officers do not think that their department or unit has sufficient staffing in relation to operational requirements, according to a Novus survey conducted by the Police Association.
40 percent answered that they rarely have sufficient staffing and 24 percent answered that they never do.
For all responding police officers in the survey, 50 percent state that their department or unit does not have sufficient staffing in relation to operational requirements.
Police are calling for more investigators, both police and civilians, according to the survey. They also want to see more specialists, for example financial analysts, forensics, but also more resources for the support functions so that the investigators can focus on the investigative task.
