Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Evangelical, Pentecostal, and independent Linköping, Östergötland, Sweden · 2013

Sweden: Pentecostal youth-ministry leader convicted of raping a 14-year-old congregation member

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

youth-ministry leader (ungdomsledare) in a Pentecostal (Pingst) congregation

Organization

Pingströrelsen (Pentecostal Movement, Sweden) — local Östergötland congregation, unnamed in source

Spiritual nexus

The victim was a minor member of the congregation whose access to the perpetrator ran entirely through his formal role in the church's youth ministry; the district court's own finding centered on his abuse of that position of trust rather than treating the case as generic acquaintance rape.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2013-04-05 · conviction and sentence

    Linköpings tingsrätt (Linköping District Court), Sweden. A 42-year-old man engaged in youth ministry (ungdomsarbete) at a local Pentecostal congregation was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl who attended the congregation's youth activities, at the church's own facilities. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. The court held that he had 'abused a position of trust in relation to the victim and subjected the victim to a serious violation' (missbrukat ett förtroende i förhållande till målsäganden och utsatt målsäganden för en allvarlig kränkning).

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • position of trust in the congregation's youth work, exploited directly against a minor member
  • access to church youth facilities

Primary record

Sources

national christian daily verdict report 'Fängelse för sexuella övergrepp i pingstkyrka', Dagen, 5 April 2013.

Sweden's national Christian daily reporting the Linköping District Court conviction and sentence: 'tingsrätten [...] anser att mannen missbrukat ett förtroende i förhållande till målsäganden och utsatt målsäganden för en allvarlig kränkning' (the district court [...] finds the man abused a position of trust in relation to the victim and subjected the victim to a serious violation). English gloss inline above.

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