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Lindh 'laughing and chatting'
15/01/2004 12:26 - (SA)
Stockholm - A close friend of slain Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh gave a chilling account in court on Thursday of how their giggly shopping trip in a Stockholm department store was cut short by tragedy.
Eva Franchell accompanied Lindh on her shopping trip to the upmarket NK department store on September 10 where the foreign minister was stabbed repeatedly by a 25-year-old Swede born to immigrant parents.
Mijailo Mijailovic, who has a history of psychiatric problems, admitted last week to stabbing Lindh, but has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, arguing that he did not intend to kill her.
Franchell told judges that she met up with Lindh on the afternoon of September 10 to buy clothes for the foreign minister who had nothing to wear for a TV appearance that night.
The atmosphere was light-hearted, with not a hint of menace in the air, Franchell told the court.
Laughing and chatting
"We were laughing and chatting a lot," she said.
As the women looked for a blazer for Lindh, a man whom neither of them had noticed before pushed himself between them.
"He ran past me, no, shoved past me very quickly, going for Anna," she said. "I became very afraid."
"It looked like he was boxing her in the stomach. It actually looked like shadow-boxing," she said. "The situation was unbelievably frightening and aggressive," she said.
Franchell said she tried to push the attacker away, and Lindh herself lifted both hands and a big shoulder bag to defend herself, but the attack was too violent to resist.
'Very aggressive'
"It was very aggressive," she said.
Mijailovic never spoke a word, Franchell recalled.
Lindh, who was without a bodyguard in the store, died early on September 11 of several stab wounds in her stomach, chest and arms, a death that plunged Sweden into deep grief.
Mijailovic testified on the opening day of the trial on Wednesday that he was sleep-deprived and under heavy medication at the time of the attack. He was expected to undergo further questioning later Thursday.
Franchell's testimony could be key to proving Mijailovic's intent when he attacked Lindh and stabbed her repeatedly.
Her testimony will be followed by that of forensic expert Henrik Druid who is to give detailed information about the cause of Lindh's death after she was stabbed several times in the stomach, chest and arms.
- AFP
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