A school murder in Sweden, where a Lithuanian pupil was allegedly stabbed by a Syrian migrant classmate, is stoking racial tensions. Families of the victim and the alleged killer are trading accusations, but police are staying silent.
The killing took place on the first day of the new semester, January 11, at the Göinge School in Broby, Skåne County.
A 15-year-old Lithuanian-born boy, Arminas Pileckas, was murdered in the school by a 14-year-old classmate, reportedly from a family of Syrian refugees. Arminas was killed with a single stab into heart inflicted from behind with a kitchen knife, his family says.
The boys had an argument either in November or December that was videoed by classmates, but the tragic climax of the story took place January 11.
Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper interviewed the father of the alleged killer, who said that his son had been bullied by the victim “for a long time.”
“The school did nothing to help him and establish his honor. Instead, my son had to meet this 15-year-old every day. It made him very upset,” he told Aftonbladet.
Sweden’s Arab language Al Kompis media outlet, identified the father as Mustafa al Haj.
The father of the dead boy told Lithuanian media that Swedish media never contacted him. On the contrary, Aftonbladet maintains it tried to reach Arminas’ relatives, but they declined to participate.
The parents of Arminas are from Lithuania and were working and living in Sweden temporarily.
Arminas’ father gave interview to Lithuanian newspaper lrytas, revealing his vision of the tragic event.
He claimed the conflict between the boys occurred because the Syrian teenager was sexually harassing a girl from their class and Arminas came to the defense of the classmate, which ended up in a short scuffle that made the Syrian teenager flee the scene.
According to Arminas’s father, the disgrace of being rebuffed made the Syrian boy swear revenge on Arminas, an intention he declared publicly.
“He even told this to the school officials (after the initial conflict took place),” Pileckas senior said.
The man also denied a possibility of bullying, since anything that happens in school is immediately reported to school authorities and the parents.
“The school can never hide anything. Even if the pupils are late getting to class, the parents are informed. If Arminas had been bullying anybody, we, the teachers, and the police would have known about it,” the father said.
In an interview to Lithuania’s Delfi media outlet, Arminas’ father said the situation with refugees in Sweden was “getting out of control,” mentioning an attempted rape of a Lithuanian women by refugees. The men were not jailed but ordered to wear tracking bracelets.
“The Swedes are afraid to talk about what’s going on. We Lithuanians do things differently, and we talk about everything in public. But here in Sweden, everything is being kept hidden and concealed,” the father said, stressing that even the parents of the girl who Arminas helped to defend do not dare to talk to Pileckas family.
“He was a real joy spreader. Very nice and kind. He was a big point in the classroom. If the whole class was down, he was a person who could always get the class to laugh,” a 15-year-old girl who went to the same class as Arminas told FriaTider.
A police spokesman said an investigation is under way to determine exactly what led to the murder at the school.
Arminas Pileckas wrote in his own words about the conflict and left the explanatory report to the school management, Kvällspostens reported.