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Luna, 9, was assaulted by a 15-year-old in Skellefteå - now the family is telling us
Skellefteå
The week after the trial against the 15-year-old boy, the girl's aunt Emma has trouble sleeping. She wakes up at two or three in the morning, awakened by a recurring vision.
She dreams that she is floating directly above Luna, who is lying alone on the ground in the forest with a noose around her neck. She wants to lie down next to her nephew but is still up in the air.
- I felt that I wanted to go down to her on the ground, I didn't want her to lie alone in the forest and be afraid.
No one knows exactly how long Luna lay injured on the ground, without clothes, with her own shoelace tied around her neck like a stranglehold. She has also been tied with strings around her neck to a tree. When she was found, she was lying on the ground and breathing with faint rasps. According to the doctors, she was close to death.
For Luna's closest family, all energy has gone into taking care of Luna. They haven't been able to talk to outsiders and now Aunt Emma is representing the family. Because they want to show reality as it has become.
"Time stood still"
It was around twenty past three when Luna left leisure on July 7 last summer. Already earlier in the day, the 15-year-old had circulated in the schoolyard without having anything to do there. For most who knew the boy, he was 13 years old. But the boy's family, and even people employed at the school, knew that his age was not right.
The boy's behavior at school also stood out, including documented incidents of a xesual nature towards girls. But on this day, he was seen as an idle boy on summer vacation, hanging around aimlessly at school.
A student had had his electric scooter stolen and the boy offered to help search. He found it quickly and there are reports that he himself took it and therefore had an easy time finding the scooter.
Shortly after 4 p.m., the boy was seen in the school yard again. The alarm call to SOS first came at 17.28.
Around 3:30 p.m., a witness heard a scream from the forest. Shortly after 4 p.m., the boy was seen in the school yard again.
It wasn't until 17.28 that the alarm call came to SOS. Then the 15-year-old had tried to stop several people on the road so that they would join him into the forest. The woman who finally called in brought her daughter, the same age as Luna.
- We will always admire her courage and be grateful that she intervened, says Emma.
The police patrol on site noticed the 15-year-old's behavior and already that evening the first interrogation was held at his home. Even then, he told police he was 15, not 13. He also gave a story about how he found the girl in the woods when he went to pee, even though Luna was 30 meters off the road in hard-to-reach terrain.
At the end of the interrogation, the boy asks a question:
"When will you get the answer?"
"How do you mean?"
“So about her. Who has done it?”
The following evening, the boy confessed to his parents and the father called the police. When an investigation by the Swedish Forensic Agency confirmed that he was over 15, the investigation became a preliminary investigation.
"We will always admire her courage and be grateful that she intervened," says Luna's aunt Emma about the woman who called SOS.
In questioning, the boy expressed surprise that Luna had survived. He has admitted parts of what he did, but in the interrogation, the story has changed over time and he has difficulty explaining why it happened.
Emma describes the trial as brutal. Both prosecutors and lawyers apologized to the family for the details they had to deal with behind closed doors.
- Time stood still. The air ran out.
Emma says the professionalism and legal formality provided a charter and dignity as the enormity of the crime washed over the relatives. The beatings, the xesual violence. That the 15-year-old pulled out both of Luna's shoelaces and tied one tightly around her neck. With the other he tied her to one of the slender trees, so tightly that it damaged the bark. Most likely, Luna was tied around the neck to the damaged tree.
The 15-year-old then left her, went back to the school yard, came to the forest again and removed the strings. And then tried to raise the alarm.
Police found damage to a tree where they suspect Luna was tied with a shoelace around her neck.
One of the two police officers who were first on the scene had to drive the ambulance as the two paramedics had to work to save Luna's life.
The desperation of the woman who finally called SOS Alarm is palpable. The shock at the sight of the small body in the forest, the weak breathing. The questions of the alarm operator, trying to understand - is it really a small child?
- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and I have my mine, my nine-year-old daughter up here, says the woman.
Luna's clothes were torn, her backpack and helmet thrown a bit away.
One of the two police officers who were first on the scene had to drive the ambulance because the two paramedics had to work to save Luna's life. The policeman who was left alone had to secure the crime scene and get help writing down the names of witnesses and suspects.
The hearing in court lasted four days. Not being there was never an option for Aunt Emma. When the whole truth came out, completely unvarnished, my heart broke, she says.
Emma wanted to be Luna's eyes and ears at the trial. "Maybe one day she will want me to tell her," she says.
- I wanted to be her witness, be her eyes and ears. Maybe one day she will want me to tell her, says Emma.
On October 19, the Skellefteå district court ruled that the 15-year-old is guilty of attempted murder and aggravated rape. On November 30, the results of the forensic psychiatric investigation came. It showed that the 15-year-old suffered from a serious mental disorder both when he assaulted Luna and now. The investigation also concluded that the risk of relapse into serious crime of a similar nature is high.
On December 14, the 15-year-old boy was sentenced to forensic psychiatric care with a special discharge examination by the Skellefteå district court. The court ruled that the 15-year-old intended to kill Luna. The penalty value for an adult was equivalent to life imprisonment.
- As it developed in the forensic psychiatric examination, I think it was the most crime-preventive sanction, perhaps the only sanction that was relevant in the end, said Chamber Prosecutor Andreas Nyberg after the verdict.
Luna loved to sing and dance. She was about to grow up.
There's a lot a nine-year-old can handle on his own. Cycle the short footpath to school or leisure. Play with her little sister outside and keep an eye on her. Sing solo at the Christmas concert in the church choir. Dance ballet, dream of becoming a Youtuber. To make the annual visit to the cousins in Stockholm alone for the first time. Get on the flight with special instructions and be picked up by aunt at the gate at Arlanda.
On Ascension Day this year, Luna went to Stockholm. With two cousins, they went to Gröna Lund (an amusement park) and happened to choose the day when the pop band Mares played. The amusement park was full of sprightly visitors, maybe a little too crowded, but everything went well.
The bus home from Djurgården was full of young people. They were happy, stood up for those who needed a seat, and sang loudly. Loud sing-along – the bus was filled with Mare's hit song Sunnanvind:
"You had silk ribbons in your hair, a stray sunshine dancing on your cheek.
You were the most beautiful thing in spring, you were the most beautiful thing in spring.
You said: "Now it's windy on the moon".
A calm breeze, a southerly wind.”
Luna and her cousins looked at the youngsters with wide eyes, silent.
- One day maybe you'll be the ones standing and singing on the bus, Emma says to the children.
Emma describes Luna as artistic, she loved to sing and dance. And on the way to becoming big, growing up into an individual of his own.
- She and her little sister are the apple of my eye.
She can't move, can't talk, can't do anything
Luna had to be sedated on a respirator for eleven days. When it became clear that she had woken up, many people spoke up. How lucky she made it, how nice.
- Sure, she's alive, but it's far from good. She is alive in the sense that she breathes on her own but she can't move, can't talk, can't do anything, Emma told us during an early phone contact.
The first time we met, a week later, Emma tried to put into words the acute pain that the relatives were living in the midst of:
- It feels as if we are walking barefoot on a sharp knife with a precipice on each side.
A short time later, before the indictment and trial, the family learned that Luna's brain damage was irreversible. The message from the doctors after the X-ray caused the ground to shake.
- We really understood that it was like that, but when we got it in black and white we took it really hard.
"During the trial, the doctors told it like it was in a concise way. She has no voluntary use of her arms and legs."
Irreversible – that's the doctors' way of saying that the damage to Luna's brain is permanent. Now she needs a specially built wheelchair to get out. She is on medication for epilepsy and her movements are spastic, not voluntary - but there is an improvement. She no longer has any language to express herself.
- During the trial, the doctors said it as it was in a concise way. She has no voluntary use of her arms and legs. For example, she can't scratch herself, says Emma.
In early August, the prosecutor stated in a press release that it was "unlikely" that Luna would be heard during the trial:
"The assessment is that it would not be in the girl's best interests to try to conduct an interrogation with her about what happened. The injuries she sustained in the incident also means that her ability to remember and tell about what happened can be expected to be low".
The truth is, no one knows what Luna remembers of what happened. But the family believes Luna remembers. Sometimes she becomes inconsolable, sad and upset. They do everything to calm her down and say:
"We know. We know what happened to you, you don't have to struggle to tell us".
Luna was sedated in ICU in Umeå.
Emma says that the anger she feels over what happened has caused her to wake up in the middle of the night with a nearly broken bite rail. The anger is not directed at the 15-year-old, she does not want to think about him. But against the adults who were in the school and social services - the authorities who knew and should have intervened. Those who have not managed to secure the children even though there were several signs and signals about the 15-year-old.
Expressen's previous review has mapped the warning signals that were ignored by schools and social services. The boy came from Ethiopia in 2018 and received a temporary residence permit with his mother and siblings. In the population register, he was 9 years old but was in fact 11. The incorrect age stuck - despite the fact that, according to the indictment, there were staff at the school who knew that his age was not correct.
In 2019, three incidents were reported against girls at school, where he grabbed their breasts, buttocks and called one of them a hoe. The school contacted the parents, but no report of concern was made to Social Services.
In June 2021, the next alarm about the boy came: A woman was assaulted at an underpass at Moröhöjden, not far from where Luna was found. The woman describes a "wrestling match" where she managed to break free. The crime was investigated as an attempted assault and the suspicions were a xesual motive. The woman pointed out the boy, but as he was not a criminal, the investigation was sent to Social Services and the school was told nothing.
At the end of June 2021, a woman was assaulted at an underpass at Moröhöjden.
The municipality's head of schools, Henrik Bolin, said in connection with the review that they had not been able to act differently based on the information they had.
Would the situation have been different if you had received more information from social services?
- One can only speculate about that.
During the trial, additional information about the boy's behavior emerged. Among other things, he has surfed the school's computers and searched for violent and pornographic films and material that contained strangulation. But he was only told to stop searching for that kind of material if he wanted to continue surfing the school's computers.
The boy has also met with psychologists and the municipality's habilitation team to get help. But when his parents did not want to participate in the investigation, the social services stated that they "found no reason to investigate against the parents' will".
"Society could have prevented this"
The Inspectorate for Care and Care, IVO, has reviewed the actions of the social services. The answer from the municipality to IVO is that no mistakes have been made in the handling. Large parts of the documents have been blacked out, in principle only the municipality's conclusion is public:
"The Social Welfare Board has not discovered any shortcomings in the handling."
The family say they want to see a "Lex Luna" - an opportunity for schools and social services to share information.
- Society could have prevented this, says Emma.
She believes that there are people to save.
- Why hasn't anyone pressed the alarm button? This is our role as adults – to be the eyes of the children around us and to protect those we are meant to protect.
We have to reclaim life and keep doing fun things
When we meet the second time, Emma's husband Björn is there. The family has just made it through the trial - a "dryer". The dreams that woke Emma in the middle of the night have ended, for this time anyway. According to Emma, she has come to a certain acceptance and has been able to "clean up" things that were in her mind before they knew what happened.
Luna is still in the hospital in Skellefteå. When they see each other, Emma tries to read Luna's mood to see what makes her happy and calm. The aunt can gossip a bit, tell funny things she has done. Singing Christmas carols, that's what Luna loved to do when she sang in the choir.
- "Spending my time" with Roxette she loves, we have played it down many times.
Luna enjoys watching movies, often with her little sister. But at one point when she was watching with grandma, an episode came up where a princess was being chased through the forest by a witch.
- Then she broke down. She probably has a huge anxiety disorder.
It looks like Luna should be able to come home from the hospital in Skellefteå by Christmas, but it will only be a short leave. She will hopefully be able to celebrate the holiday at home, with the whole family traveling to Skellefteå so they can be together.
Once she moves home, Luna will need around-the-clock assistance and supervision.
- She is completely defenseless, says Emma.
Many people have contacted the family and wanted to help. The family has started a fundraiser where the money will go towards everything that Luna might need.
They look forward to celebrating Christmas together, but the joy of the small progress is mixed with worry. The recruitment of a personal assistant is not yet complete. What happens next Christmas, if Luna wants to go visit grandma and grandpa? And the next one after that?
How will everyday work? And the interruptions from everyday life, Luna's opportunities to travel, experience new environments and impressions? Will they be able to travel to Santa's Rovaniemi like they did with all the children in the family?
Many people have contacted the family. They wanted to help, initially the mountain of stuffed animals grew at the hospital in Umeå where Luna was. Therefore, the family has started a fundraiser where the money will go to everything that Luna might need. If she wants to go to her grandparents, she should not be stopped for financial reasons.
- We have to recapture life and continue doing fun things, says Emma.
No one can say anything about what Luna's life will be like. Just that nothing will ever be the same. The goal of Luna's rehabilitation is for her to be able to do as much as possible of what she did before. Move, talk, eat. But there is no medical experience around children with the type of strangulation injuries that Luna has. The comparisons that can be made are with adult patients, for example stroke patients.
Luna in her specially built wheelchair. She is happy to greet dogs she meets when she is out on the town.
And today, after the trial, Luna has made little progress. She can wave her hand a little. She has managed to say one word: "Mother".
There are also steps backwards, such as increased anxiety and anxiety attacks.
Luna is happy when she meets other children, and dogs. When they are out walking with their wheelchair in Skellefteå, they stop and greet dogs of all colors and sizes that pass by.
When the legal process is over and everything has calmed down, Luna's mother will document her daughter on her own social media, such as Instagram, partly in the same way she did before. Those who want will be able to follow Luna's progress and everyday life.
The family is safe in the knowledge that Luna has always loved to be seen and has a strong will to express herself.
- We don't know if Luna will ever be able to give her direct consent to anything, says Emma.
But the family has decided on one thing – Luna must not be hidden away.
Luna celebrated her tenth birthday at the hospital in Skellefteå, courted by the family.
They show a picture of Luna sitting in her wheelchair, wearing a navy blue dress with tulle and her eyes sparkling. In a ring on the floor, the family's assembled children sit in a pile of paper and help open the birthday presents.
The whole family was present at the hospital when she turned ten. Cousins, grandparents, little sister, aunts and uncles. There was cake with birthday candles, colorful cupcakes that Luna's mother had baked. But Luna couldn't eat any of it, she can swallow drinks and some cream but gets most of her nutrition through a PEG tube in her stomach.
"The only thing that remains is the love for Luna," says Emma.
Emma tells them that they realized that Luna got tired of the birthday party after a while and needed to rest. But then she showed that she didn't want to leave the party at all and they had to go back to the others.
- It was clear that the party was not over for her, says Emma and laughs - for the first time during our conversations.
There have been tears all the more.
Of all the feelings of hatred, anger, hopelessness and deepest sorrow that Luna's family has gone through and still struggles with, there is still one feeling that rises above the others. Like when Emma in the dream floats above Luna's body in the forest.
- The only thing that remains is the love for Luna, says Emma.
- Nine-year-old Luna put on her backpack and bike helmet, said goodbye to the recreation staff and got on her bike.
- What happened next on the way home to Morö Backe in Skellefteå, her family will probably never know:
- How did the boy get Luna to stop his bike?
- How did she end up in the tricky terrain where she was later found naked – strangled with a shoelace and previously tied to a tree, a hair's breath away from death?
- The lack of oxygen after the strangulation has left Luna with permanent brain damage and she cannot speak and has difficulty moving her arms and legs - but here is her and her family's story:
- - It's like a black hole we're falling through. There is no bottom, says Aunt Emma.
Skellefteå
The week after the trial against the 15-year-old boy, the girl's aunt Emma has trouble sleeping. She wakes up at two or three in the morning, awakened by a recurring vision.
She dreams that she is floating directly above Luna, who is lying alone on the ground in the forest with a noose around her neck. She wants to lie down next to her nephew but is still up in the air.
- I felt that I wanted to go down to her on the ground, I didn't want her to lie alone in the forest and be afraid.
No one knows exactly how long Luna lay injured on the ground, without clothes, with her own shoelace tied around her neck like a stranglehold. She has also been tied with strings around her neck to a tree. When she was found, she was lying on the ground and breathing with faint rasps. According to the doctors, she was close to death.
For Luna's closest family, all energy has gone into taking care of Luna. They haven't been able to talk to outsiders and now Aunt Emma is representing the family. Because they want to show reality as it has become.
"Time stood still"
It was around twenty past three when Luna left leisure on July 7 last summer. Already earlier in the day, the 15-year-old had circulated in the schoolyard without having anything to do there. For most who knew the boy, he was 13 years old. But the boy's family, and even people employed at the school, knew that his age was not right.
The boy's behavior at school also stood out, including documented incidents of a xesual nature towards girls. But on this day, he was seen as an idle boy on summer vacation, hanging around aimlessly at school.
A student had had his electric scooter stolen and the boy offered to help search. He found it quickly and there are reports that he himself took it and therefore had an easy time finding the scooter.
Shortly after 4 p.m., the boy was seen in the school yard again. The alarm call to SOS first came at 17.28.
Around 3:30 p.m., a witness heard a scream from the forest. Shortly after 4 p.m., the boy was seen in the school yard again.
It wasn't until 17.28 that the alarm call came to SOS. Then the 15-year-old had tried to stop several people on the road so that they would join him into the forest. The woman who finally called in brought her daughter, the same age as Luna.
- We will always admire her courage and be grateful that she intervened, says Emma.
The police patrol on site noticed the 15-year-old's behavior and already that evening the first interrogation was held at his home. Even then, he told police he was 15, not 13. He also gave a story about how he found the girl in the woods when he went to pee, even though Luna was 30 meters off the road in hard-to-reach terrain.
At the end of the interrogation, the boy asks a question:
"When will you get the answer?"
"How do you mean?"
“So about her. Who has done it?”
The following evening, the boy confessed to his parents and the father called the police. When an investigation by the Swedish Forensic Agency confirmed that he was over 15, the investigation became a preliminary investigation.
"We will always admire her courage and be grateful that she intervened," says Luna's aunt Emma about the woman who called SOS.
In questioning, the boy expressed surprise that Luna had survived. He has admitted parts of what he did, but in the interrogation, the story has changed over time and he has difficulty explaining why it happened.
Emma describes the trial as brutal. Both prosecutors and lawyers apologized to the family for the details they had to deal with behind closed doors.
- Time stood still. The air ran out.
Emma says the professionalism and legal formality provided a charter and dignity as the enormity of the crime washed over the relatives. The beatings, the xesual violence. That the 15-year-old pulled out both of Luna's shoelaces and tied one tightly around her neck. With the other he tied her to one of the slender trees, so tightly that it damaged the bark. Most likely, Luna was tied around the neck to the damaged tree.
The 15-year-old then left her, went back to the school yard, came to the forest again and removed the strings. And then tried to raise the alarm.
Police found damage to a tree where they suspect Luna was tied with a shoelace around her neck.
One of the two police officers who were first on the scene had to drive the ambulance as the two paramedics had to work to save Luna's life.
The desperation of the woman who finally called SOS Alarm is palpable. The shock at the sight of the small body in the forest, the weak breathing. The questions of the alarm operator, trying to understand - is it really a small child?
- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and I have my mine, my nine-year-old daughter up here, says the woman.
Luna's clothes were torn, her backpack and helmet thrown a bit away.
One of the two police officers who were first on the scene had to drive the ambulance because the two paramedics had to work to save Luna's life. The policeman who was left alone had to secure the crime scene and get help writing down the names of witnesses and suspects.
The hearing in court lasted four days. Not being there was never an option for Aunt Emma. When the whole truth came out, completely unvarnished, my heart broke, she says.
Emma wanted to be Luna's eyes and ears at the trial. "Maybe one day she will want me to tell her," she says.
- I wanted to be her witness, be her eyes and ears. Maybe one day she will want me to tell her, says Emma.
On October 19, the Skellefteå district court ruled that the 15-year-old is guilty of attempted murder and aggravated rape. On November 30, the results of the forensic psychiatric investigation came. It showed that the 15-year-old suffered from a serious mental disorder both when he assaulted Luna and now. The investigation also concluded that the risk of relapse into serious crime of a similar nature is high.
On December 14, the 15-year-old boy was sentenced to forensic psychiatric care with a special discharge examination by the Skellefteå district court. The court ruled that the 15-year-old intended to kill Luna. The penalty value for an adult was equivalent to life imprisonment.
- As it developed in the forensic psychiatric examination, I think it was the most crime-preventive sanction, perhaps the only sanction that was relevant in the end, said Chamber Prosecutor Andreas Nyberg after the verdict.
Luna loved to sing and dance. She was about to grow up.
There's a lot a nine-year-old can handle on his own. Cycle the short footpath to school or leisure. Play with her little sister outside and keep an eye on her. Sing solo at the Christmas concert in the church choir. Dance ballet, dream of becoming a Youtuber. To make the annual visit to the cousins in Stockholm alone for the first time. Get on the flight with special instructions and be picked up by aunt at the gate at Arlanda.
On Ascension Day this year, Luna went to Stockholm. With two cousins, they went to Gröna Lund (an amusement park) and happened to choose the day when the pop band Mares played. The amusement park was full of sprightly visitors, maybe a little too crowded, but everything went well.
The bus home from Djurgården was full of young people. They were happy, stood up for those who needed a seat, and sang loudly. Loud sing-along – the bus was filled with Mare's hit song Sunnanvind:
"You had silk ribbons in your hair, a stray sunshine dancing on your cheek.
You were the most beautiful thing in spring, you were the most beautiful thing in spring.
You said: "Now it's windy on the moon".
A calm breeze, a southerly wind.”
Luna and her cousins looked at the youngsters with wide eyes, silent.
- One day maybe you'll be the ones standing and singing on the bus, Emma says to the children.
Emma describes Luna as artistic, she loved to sing and dance. And on the way to becoming big, growing up into an individual of his own.
- She and her little sister are the apple of my eye.
She can't move, can't talk, can't do anything
Luna had to be sedated on a respirator for eleven days. When it became clear that she had woken up, many people spoke up. How lucky she made it, how nice.
- Sure, she's alive, but it's far from good. She is alive in the sense that she breathes on her own but she can't move, can't talk, can't do anything, Emma told us during an early phone contact.
The first time we met, a week later, Emma tried to put into words the acute pain that the relatives were living in the midst of:
- It feels as if we are walking barefoot on a sharp knife with a precipice on each side.
A short time later, before the indictment and trial, the family learned that Luna's brain damage was irreversible. The message from the doctors after the X-ray caused the ground to shake.
- We really understood that it was like that, but when we got it in black and white we took it really hard.
"During the trial, the doctors told it like it was in a concise way. She has no voluntary use of her arms and legs."
Irreversible – that's the doctors' way of saying that the damage to Luna's brain is permanent. Now she needs a specially built wheelchair to get out. She is on medication for epilepsy and her movements are spastic, not voluntary - but there is an improvement. She no longer has any language to express herself.
- During the trial, the doctors said it as it was in a concise way. She has no voluntary use of her arms and legs. For example, she can't scratch herself, says Emma.
In early August, the prosecutor stated in a press release that it was "unlikely" that Luna would be heard during the trial:
"The assessment is that it would not be in the girl's best interests to try to conduct an interrogation with her about what happened. The injuries she sustained in the incident also means that her ability to remember and tell about what happened can be expected to be low".
The truth is, no one knows what Luna remembers of what happened. But the family believes Luna remembers. Sometimes she becomes inconsolable, sad and upset. They do everything to calm her down and say:
"We know. We know what happened to you, you don't have to struggle to tell us".
Luna was sedated in ICU in Umeå.
Emma says that the anger she feels over what happened has caused her to wake up in the middle of the night with a nearly broken bite rail. The anger is not directed at the 15-year-old, she does not want to think about him. But against the adults who were in the school and social services - the authorities who knew and should have intervened. Those who have not managed to secure the children even though there were several signs and signals about the 15-year-old.
Expressen's previous review has mapped the warning signals that were ignored by schools and social services. The boy came from Ethiopia in 2018 and received a temporary residence permit with his mother and siblings. In the population register, he was 9 years old but was in fact 11. The incorrect age stuck - despite the fact that, according to the indictment, there were staff at the school who knew that his age was not correct.
In 2019, three incidents were reported against girls at school, where he grabbed their breasts, buttocks and called one of them a hoe. The school contacted the parents, but no report of concern was made to Social Services.
In June 2021, the next alarm about the boy came: A woman was assaulted at an underpass at Moröhöjden, not far from where Luna was found. The woman describes a "wrestling match" where she managed to break free. The crime was investigated as an attempted assault and the suspicions were a xesual motive. The woman pointed out the boy, but as he was not a criminal, the investigation was sent to Social Services and the school was told nothing.
At the end of June 2021, a woman was assaulted at an underpass at Moröhöjden.
The municipality's head of schools, Henrik Bolin, said in connection with the review that they had not been able to act differently based on the information they had.
Would the situation have been different if you had received more information from social services?
- One can only speculate about that.
During the trial, additional information about the boy's behavior emerged. Among other things, he has surfed the school's computers and searched for violent and pornographic films and material that contained strangulation. But he was only told to stop searching for that kind of material if he wanted to continue surfing the school's computers.
The boy has also met with psychologists and the municipality's habilitation team to get help. But when his parents did not want to participate in the investigation, the social services stated that they "found no reason to investigate against the parents' will".
"Society could have prevented this"
The Inspectorate for Care and Care, IVO, has reviewed the actions of the social services. The answer from the municipality to IVO is that no mistakes have been made in the handling. Large parts of the documents have been blacked out, in principle only the municipality's conclusion is public:
"The Social Welfare Board has not discovered any shortcomings in the handling."
The family say they want to see a "Lex Luna" - an opportunity for schools and social services to share information.
- Society could have prevented this, says Emma.
She believes that there are people to save.
- Why hasn't anyone pressed the alarm button? This is our role as adults – to be the eyes of the children around us and to protect those we are meant to protect.
We have to reclaim life and keep doing fun things
When we meet the second time, Emma's husband Björn is there. The family has just made it through the trial - a "dryer". The dreams that woke Emma in the middle of the night have ended, for this time anyway. According to Emma, she has come to a certain acceptance and has been able to "clean up" things that were in her mind before they knew what happened.
Luna is still in the hospital in Skellefteå. When they see each other, Emma tries to read Luna's mood to see what makes her happy and calm. The aunt can gossip a bit, tell funny things she has done. Singing Christmas carols, that's what Luna loved to do when she sang in the choir.
- "Spending my time" with Roxette she loves, we have played it down many times.
Luna enjoys watching movies, often with her little sister. But at one point when she was watching with grandma, an episode came up where a princess was being chased through the forest by a witch.
- Then she broke down. She probably has a huge anxiety disorder.
It looks like Luna should be able to come home from the hospital in Skellefteå by Christmas, but it will only be a short leave. She will hopefully be able to celebrate the holiday at home, with the whole family traveling to Skellefteå so they can be together.
Once she moves home, Luna will need around-the-clock assistance and supervision.
- She is completely defenseless, says Emma.
Many people have contacted the family and wanted to help. The family has started a fundraiser where the money will go towards everything that Luna might need.
They look forward to celebrating Christmas together, but the joy of the small progress is mixed with worry. The recruitment of a personal assistant is not yet complete. What happens next Christmas, if Luna wants to go visit grandma and grandpa? And the next one after that?
How will everyday work? And the interruptions from everyday life, Luna's opportunities to travel, experience new environments and impressions? Will they be able to travel to Santa's Rovaniemi like they did with all the children in the family?
Many people have contacted the family. They wanted to help, initially the mountain of stuffed animals grew at the hospital in Umeå where Luna was. Therefore, the family has started a fundraiser where the money will go to everything that Luna might need. If she wants to go to her grandparents, she should not be stopped for financial reasons.
- We have to recapture life and continue doing fun things, says Emma.
No one can say anything about what Luna's life will be like. Just that nothing will ever be the same. The goal of Luna's rehabilitation is for her to be able to do as much as possible of what she did before. Move, talk, eat. But there is no medical experience around children with the type of strangulation injuries that Luna has. The comparisons that can be made are with adult patients, for example stroke patients.
Luna in her specially built wheelchair. She is happy to greet dogs she meets when she is out on the town.
And today, after the trial, Luna has made little progress. She can wave her hand a little. She has managed to say one word: "Mother".
There are also steps backwards, such as increased anxiety and anxiety attacks.
Luna is happy when she meets other children, and dogs. When they are out walking with their wheelchair in Skellefteå, they stop and greet dogs of all colors and sizes that pass by.
When the legal process is over and everything has calmed down, Luna's mother will document her daughter on her own social media, such as Instagram, partly in the same way she did before. Those who want will be able to follow Luna's progress and everyday life.
The family is safe in the knowledge that Luna has always loved to be seen and has a strong will to express herself.
- We don't know if Luna will ever be able to give her direct consent to anything, says Emma.
But the family has decided on one thing – Luna must not be hidden away.
Luna celebrated her tenth birthday at the hospital in Skellefteå, courted by the family.
They show a picture of Luna sitting in her wheelchair, wearing a navy blue dress with tulle and her eyes sparkling. In a ring on the floor, the family's assembled children sit in a pile of paper and help open the birthday presents.
The whole family was present at the hospital when she turned ten. Cousins, grandparents, little sister, aunts and uncles. There was cake with birthday candles, colorful cupcakes that Luna's mother had baked. But Luna couldn't eat any of it, she can swallow drinks and some cream but gets most of her nutrition through a PEG tube in her stomach.
"The only thing that remains is the love for Luna," says Emma.
Emma tells them that they realized that Luna got tired of the birthday party after a while and needed to rest. But then she showed that she didn't want to leave the party at all and they had to go back to the others.
- It was clear that the party was not over for her, says Emma and laughs - for the first time during our conversations.
There have been tears all the more.
Of all the feelings of hatred, anger, hopelessness and deepest sorrow that Luna's family has gone through and still struggles with, there is still one feeling that rises above the others. Like when Emma in the dream floats above Luna's body in the forest.
- The only thing that remains is the love for Luna, says Emma.
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