A Syrian asylum seeker will be deported from Sweden after shocking video showed him pushing a 91-year-old woman down a flight of stairs in an attack that will reignite the country’s debate over migration.
Karam Kanjo, 26, was caught on CCTV assaulting the elderly victim while she was on her way to her husband’s grave on August 29 this year.
Footage showed Kanjo, who entered Sweden during Europe’s 2015 migrant crisis, grabbing his elderly victim halfway up the stairs at Sollentuna station, about eight miles northwest of Stockholm.
The victim is seen struggling for a second, before the pair fell down the stairs while he grabbed their necklaces, causing serious injuries. A witness to the attack was seen running to safety, leaving the elderly woman behind.
After the pair rolled to the bottom of the stairs, Kanjo stood up and removed the chains, before calmly walking away and leaving the old woman lying on the ground while two travelers came down the stairs to help her.
According to court documents obtained by MailOnline, the necklaces were gifts she received more than 40 years ago.
The attack took place at Sollentuna station, about 13 kilometers northwest of Stockholm.
The pair were seen halfway up some stairs at the train station, before he grabbed their necklaces.
He was seen dragging the woman to the ground before removing her chain.
The victim was heading to her husband’s grave when the attack occurred.
Karam Kanjo (pictured) has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for the attack.
When police questioned the victim, she said she was petrified by the episode and said she had never experienced violence like that in her life.
Last Monday, he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison and ordered deported back to Syria after being found guilty of aggravated robbery, as well as a violation of Swedish knife laws and a drug offense.
In addition to this, he must pay her 93,100 Swedish crowns (£6,649) in damages.
Kanjo, a convicted rapist, has also committed at least 19 crimes since entering the country in 2015, including aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery.
He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for raping a woman in 2021, but was released with almost a year left on his sentence.
A judge said Kanjo’s crime was “life-threatening” given his victim’s age.
The judge said the elderly woman “suffered swelling to her left hip and arm, bruising to her legs, bruising to her left arm and thick scraped skin around her neck from the necklaces.”
Kanjo will also be deported for the twisted attack
He entered Sweden during the European migrant crisis in 2015.
“The swelling appeared and (caused) pain for several weeks.”
‘Even a fall to the ground could have caused serious fractures. Now the fall occurred carelessly down a flight of stairs.
‘It appears to be a fortunate coincidence that (the victim) did not suffer very serious injuries in the fall. Although no legal or similar certificate has been presented in the matter, the court finds that with respect to (the victim’s) age, it is clear that the violence that Karam Kanjo used against her was life-threatening.’
He will also be prohibited from returning to Sweden after being deported, according to court documents.
Although he fought to overturn the deportation order, Swedish authorities told the Attunda district court that his “connection with Sweden is… very weak.”
“According to the investigation of the Norwegian Correctional Service, he lives in destructive social conditions without his own accommodation and is unemployed,” the court was told.
He reportedly told the court that if he was sent home, it would be ‘subjected to torture or inhuman treatment.’
But the Swedish Migration Agency said that since he is old enough to enlist in the military, he may buy his way out of compulsory military service.
Sweden has had a “net outflow of migrants this year for the first time in decades,” according to Annika Sandlund, UNHCR representative in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
The country’s government, led by the Moderate party and supported by the far-right Sweden Democrats, has increasingly restricted laws regarding asylum seekers.
One of those laws the government is pushing is the so-called “snitch law” that would require public sector workers to report illegal immigrants.