Stockholm, Jun 15: A serial rapist who preyed on lone women walking or biking in the small central Swedish town of Orebro has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a string of attacks between 2005 and 2010, a district court ruled Wednesday.
The Orebro District Court said that 24-year Niklas Eliasson, who often chased his victims down with a bicycle and in a few cases tied their hands behind their backs during the attacks, has been found guilty of two aggravated rapes and six attempted rapes.
He was also convicted of attempted robbery, assault, sexual molestation and possession of pepper-spray, but was acquitted of two counts of rape, one count of robbery and one count of assault.
Aside from the prison sentence, the court ordered him to pay a total of 780,000 kronor ($123,000) in damages to his victims.
Ahead of the ruling, a forensic psychiatric examination showed Eliasson didn't suffer from a serious mental disorder during the attacks.
Eliasson, who had no previous criminal record, was arrested last October after raping one woman and trying to rape two others within 12 hours.
He has largely confessed to the attacks. He has been described as a loner, without many social contacts and in court hearings he has admitted to his obsession with pornography. He has also said he began to stalk people in his early teens.
Margareta Arvidsson, the lawyer representing Eliasson, could not say whether her client planned to appeal the ruling, saying they still need to go through the extensive court ruling material which consists of more than 130 pages. AP
