Differential Richness of Detail in Elvira's Sexual and Ritual Narratives

In some cases the injured party provided two incompatible categories of narratives. In these cases the only option open to the prosecutor and the experts who support him, is to claim that the narratives of one of the categories are superior. It is important for judges and jurors to be aware of the fact that any other option would entail that the prosecutor did not have a case at all. Claims of superiority should therefore not merely be taken at face value.

Incompatible categories are not only encountered in the case of Elvira. In chapter 31 the blackmailing case will be presented. When this case was handled by the court of appeal, 14-year-old Graziella refused to testify at all. She had earlier presented both an abuse version and a retraction version. The pseudo-witness-psychologist who assisted the prosecutor, fabricated that the abuse version was superior to the retraction version, because it was free from contradictions.

But despite this postulation, the major part of her testimony consisted in explaining away the many glaring contradictions of the abuse version.

This conspicuous feature was overlooked by at least four of the five judges of the court of appeal in Malmö.

Elvira had presented stories both about sex abuse and ritual murder. All the latter allegations were disproved. (The experts and the judges might not have noticed that many of the sexual narratives had also been disproved.) Now, Kåreland asserted that the sexual stories were superior, because they were much richer in details. - Kåreland's argument was accepted by the judges.

This is significant, because even a cursory glance will reveal that the very opposite is true: all the murder stories are immensely more detailed than the sexual stories.

The most effective way of proving that Kåreland and the judges were wrong, would be to quote all the police interrogations. But for obvious reason this way is not an option for me. Instead I shall first note that the longest line in the police interrogations about murders consists of 806 words, while the longest line in the interrogations about sex abuse consists of 209 words. And this is not an isolated exception; by and large, the lines in the murder interrogations are much longer than those in the sex interrogations.

Moreover, the longest line about sex abuse came to a close because Elvira had said what she intended to say. By contrast, the longest line about murder ended only in a formal sense, viz. because the police officer made the impasse "Mm." Elvira's "next" line is actually the continuation of the same line.

In the quoted excerpts E = Elvira and P = police officer. The number of words refers to the original Swedish text.

The excerpt on sexual abuse is about the consolation attempts, which is the only assault that is described with more than a minimum of detail, without postulating that Ingrid was an eyewitness. But what if we ask the simple question: what did the father actually do "Fondling" might or might not mean things that any father could do to his daughter. What body parts were fondled on this occasion Elvira does not provide any sexual information at all.

It is a well-known fact that some male rapists will half-strangle a female in order to break her resistance. But nowhere in this interrogation does Elvira say that this was what her father did.

[Note that this is a matter of translating a Swedish text of spontaneous talk with a poor grammatical structure partially deriving from many self-interruptions which are not associated with any pauses.]

		Police interrogation of Elvira, 1992-06-04 (Sexual theme). E-187 I remember exactly what I told Fanny, would you like to hear that P-188 Yes E-189 In that case it was that he laid down next to me and then I consoled him, and then he started to fondle me, and then I didn't want that and then I told him [so], and then he started to fondle harder and then he said that it didn't matter what I said, what I wanted to and what I didn't want to, that I shouldn't give a damn about what I wanted to and not wanted to and then he started to fondle more and more and more hard, and in the end it was no fondling, in the end it was hitting, not hitting, it was hard, it was just hard in the end, it was too hard, in the end it was really really hard, even if I didn't want to and although I hit and although I what I didn't want to, then it was too hard, in the end it was so hard, that it was, I can't let go [of] the image of the girl who is lying there and is about to be strangled, in the end it was so hard that it was so sinister that my whole body went to sleep, that the whole [of] me went to sleep, my whole body went to sleep, and I was scared, and the whole me had such death agony, ugh, I can't feel it. [209 words] P-190 But this, Elvira, what is this, beautifying you said E-191 No it's just that, that this is about like it was. But it's just that I would like to use stronger words, I would like to use words which people would think are nutty, I would like to scream and hit and kick, and then I would bring myself down from that corner of the roof and become myself. And to feel all this dread, and how he became harder and harder and harder, and how I finally just disappeared, this is what I would like to do. [87 words] P-192 There will come a time when you can bring yourself down from the roof. E-193 But thus it was, everything just became harder and harder and harder, and I knew that whatever I did then it was no use, you know. [26 words] P-194 Mm. I-195 It was ploughed because I was nothing, I didn't exist except like a tool, you know. [18 words] P-196 Do you remember that he held you tight in some way E-197 Obviously he did that, and he in the end, so I can't let go [of] the image of the girl, I know that he held my neck, I don't know, I can't let go [of] the image of that girl, because I know that it was me, I know it. [51 words] [Q-23:1]

By contrast, in the following murder interrogation almost every sentence provides concrete details.

		Police interrogation of Elvira, 1992-12-16. (Murder theme.) E-308 It's in front of a mirror in our hall, in our hall then at Birch Street P-309 Mm. E-310 We have a large brown hall mirror, quadrangular with some sort of things, carved-out things. And then, why, I got to see already since I was mighty little, then I have got to see mummy and daddy killing children that they laughed out loud in this particular way. Then they turned towards me so that I should see their laugh, at the same time as I saw that they killed the children then, so this training at home in front of the mirror, then I recall once when I was made to kneel in front of the mirror, anyway I was kneeling so that I came, no this must have been in a green chair, a green chair was it, I have so much in my head and then daddy is kneeling next to me, I had put on a red sweater. Daddy is sitting to the left of me and then they point at me in the mirror and then he laughs. "Look there" he says, "you filthy bastard". And then - lots of such nasty words. "You're nothing" - he makes me, he says a lot of things, which I don't recall right now. He says filthy bastard, I remember. And he says that I'm nothing at all and that I'm - really disgusting and filthy. Then he points at me and tells me to must look at my face and look at me - "look how detestable you are", he says. Then he raises his voice and almost shouts and laughs out loud. Then I'm really really scared, can't be more than 4 - 5 [years old]. Then mummy comes in too. If the hall is here in [the apartment at] Birch Street, then we have the hall continues this way, this is how it is. Then mummy comes from there and the mirror is here. Then I think that mummy will help me, because somewhere I always feel that I got help from her, even though all those things happened. Then I say "Mummy, help me" and she had put on a green sweater and daddy has a dark sweater. And then mummy also starts to point at me and stares at me. Then they stare at me. Then in order not to meet their gaze I must look into the mirror and I do it then and then - mummy points at me and daddy points at me, I look into the mirror and then they laughs at me and then- at me- and then I fee- feel so terribly strongly that there is no one in the whole world who will help me. And then they laugh out so loud, they laugh so much that they, the face is disfigured in this particular way, and then I scream. That's how they are training a little on me, sometimes, and then they will train in other ways too, I remember once, I had to sit in front of the mirror, then I wasn't much older, I was about just as old. At first they pointed at me, then daddy presses me down on the floor, I mean they point in exactly the same way as daddy is standing at the left side of mother on the right. And then they point at me in the mirror and laugh out loud at me, and I look right into the mirror. Then there was one occasion when daddy did mi -, when daddy did this special [thing] that I remember, when he laughed so that all his face was disfigured. Precisely when he laughed so, then he pressed me down on the floor and pulled down my pants and came inside me. When he had done this- then mummy pulled down her pants and moved her lower belly forth and back, just like the old men do, you know- Then I remember that for instance that I was completely alone in the whole world and that's how they taught me. Then they went into this dark room with me and were standing in exactly the same way, though Mats was standing in front of them. Then Mats was standing in the middle, then daddy to the right and mummy to the left. First they went into the circle and then they did so. But - oh there are very much I want to tell so I just get if mixed up. Now we shall begin with the beginning. When we were in that dark room and they started to take me there for using me as a murderer, then they stood in this circle, daddy, mummy and Mats and I was in the middle with a newly born child then in the beginning. In the beginning it was little foetuses, I shall tell more about that later. Who were dead already, whom they placed there. Then, well, I had learned that when they do this sign then they are killing. And then I had learned that when I, when they made this sign, then I felt - then I felt - so desperately lonely, like you could be, you know, I gave up. Then they had a knife for me that was smaller. [806 words.] P-311 Mm. E-312 It was also black and it was about like a - I should think it was that, that long, I should kill the little children. Then they went round in this circle. They approached me from three sides in the beginning. Then I was sitting in the middle and this newly born foetus was also there, who was dead. Then they went towards me. The Mats came from daddy and mummy, at this occasion. Then they went toward me, then they began going round in this circle - Pointed at me they did the first time and stamped and had - They made noises and then they were laughing. They laughed more loud and more loud and more loud and were stamping and stamping and stamping faster, ah harder, ah harder, ah harder and made noise. And I was very- as I told before, I was really really scared so that I did not manage to remain into myself, but I gave up, I knew I was lost, So I took the knife and killed the child, because they had taught me that they did, I understood that they wanted me to do this, that's how they taught me. [188 words] F-313 Hm, you are talking of, of foetuses E-314 There were children, girls, who were not as emaciated as the other girls and who were somewhat older, 14 to 15, they stop- ' At first Mats or daddy or somebody, I didn't see who made it, but sometimes it was daddy and sometimes it was Mats, sometimes I saw it. They raped these girls ' Several times then, because they wanted to make them pregnant. Then the girls were locked up in the dar- ' in such a dark room, They're different sizes, some of them are no bigger than half this room [= the interrogation room at the police station] [95 words] F-315 Mm. E-316 They were locked up in such a dark room, and were given better food than the others, some more food. Then they let the child grow inside the girls then. Then it was different, sometimes they let the child be born and then killed the child, but mostly the girl did not manage that. So they killed the child and then the girl and cut out the foetus from the girl and killed the foetus and ate the foetus. Sometimes they had the girl, sometimes they didn't kill the girl before they took out the foetus. Instead they kept the girl alive while they cut out the foetus' and had her bleed until she died. [102 words] [Q-23:2]

It could hardly be more flagrant that the murder lines contain significantly more details than the sexual lines. And the reason is not just that they are longer. We could cut down the murder line to 209 words, but whatever sample of words would remain, they would still be significantly more detailed than the sexual lines.

In Table 24:1 I supplied other quantitative figures: (a) the total number of words spoken by Elvira in many police interrogations; (b) the number of words in her five longest lines; and (c) the sum of words in these five lines. Even simple inspection will reveal the large increment beginning on 1992-11-22, which was the first time Elvira mentioned the ritual child murders.

	Table 2: Number of Words in Police Interrogations Concerned With Sexual Abuse and Ritual Murder, Respectively The bold underlined field indicates the first interrogation in which Elvira talks about child murders.

Date of police interrogation	Number of words spoken by Elvira	Number of words in the five longest statements	Grand total of the five longest statements
920428	4901	80 - 64 -58 - 56 - 55	313
920504	4732	82 - 79 -79 - 73 - 68	381
920604	5106	209 - 204 -124 - 113 - 98	746
920609	3912	206 - 181 -111 - 86 - 73	657
920824	3148	80 - 67 -65 - 62 - 54	328
920914	1134	168 - 66 -55 - 43 - 34	366
921002	3494	81 - 71 -68 - 63 - 49	332
921122	10908	201 - 167 -157 - 151 - 132	808
921126	9002	109 - 90 -89 - 79 - 70	437
921128	6370	128 - 108 -96 - 91 - 88	511
921203	4208	59 - 57 -53 - 49 - 46	264
921216	4431	805 - 403 -261 - 188 - 166	1823
921222	3718	144 - 73 -58 - 44 - 43	362
930114	7311	116 - 114 -108 - 76 - 64	478
930122	8335	432 - 248 -246 - 241 - 197	1364
930125	6896	405 - 134 -133 - 121 - 100	893
930203	3220	224 - 147 -77 - 61 - 58	567
930208	3774	210 - 156 -148 - 125 - 113	752
930212	7101	84 - 81 -77 - 67 - 65	374
930311	6141	378 - 145 -135 - 115 - 106	879
930319	4287	190 - 159 -82 - 76 - 71	578
930513	4368	390 - 216 -156 - 110 - 84	956

I shall without any qualification admit that it would be more informative to compare the number of details than the number of words. But any division of an account into details cannot avoid some subjective assessments.

Nevertheless, I will take a few steps along this road, beginning with Mollbeck's narrative of the consolation assault.

She was interrogated by the police on 1992-04-29, that is to say one day after Elvira. On 1992-05-05 the police called her and read out the transcribed interrogation to her. During this telephone call Mollbeck provided much new information. On the preceding evening Elvira had allegedly told her about the consolation assault, and Mollbeck described it as displayed in Table 3.

Table 3

Mollbeck's account of the consolation assault on 1992-05-05.

[MS is responsible for the division into and number of items, and likewise for bold print]

		01 Mollbeck recounts according to her memory, 02 assisted by those annotations she had made about what Elvira had told. 03 After the first police interrogation Mollbeck wrote down most of what had 04 turned up in Elvira's mind. 05 Elvira says that she has a clear image of an event 06 and she believes that this was the last assault. 07 This event occurred in spring 1991, 08 probably in April. 09 It was probably have been a Friday night, 10 Elvira thinks that she did not have to go up early the following morrow. 11 The father, Ingrid and Elvira were alone at home. 12 The mother had not yet returned after attending a course in Dalarna [= a county in Sweden]. 13 The mother attended this course during spring 1991. 14 The father was depressed and was missing the mother. 15 Elvira feels that something is about to happen. 16 The sun was shining. 17 After Elvira had lied down on her bed, the father comes in directly from watching television. 18 Elvira talks about the light from the hall that comes in from the hall when the door [to her room] is opened. 19 The Venetian blinds are pulled down. 20 The father bows down over her. 21 He asks if she is awake. 22 The father lays down behind her in the bed. 23 At first he strokes her. 24 Stroking gradually turns into fondling. 25 Elvira kicks him in order to show that he should stop it. 26 She tries to move away from him. 27 The father catches firm hold of her arms and becomes gradually more brutal. 28 [The father] says something like: "I don't give a damn about that, I need you, don't move, this is what I shall do. If you move it will hurt you more." 29 The father had entered her from behind. 30 He bit her ear. 31 Elvira also perceived him as immensely threatening, 32 and he might have said something about killing. 33 Elvira was very tired the morning after this event, 34 and the father asked if she would like to have some porridge. 35 Mollbeck had never before seen Elvira so upset. 36 Tears were flowing, 37 her chin trembled, 38 and it was impossible to calm her down. 39 Mollbeck got the impression that the father at this occasion was more threatening and scaring than on any previous occasion. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It could clearly be debated if the number of information items is exactly 39. Also, if I compared the number of details in two sets of narratives, a reader could not be certain whether the difference derived from the narratives or from the author (=MS).

Nevertheless, Table 24:2 can be used for other purposes. No matter how we divide the narrative, it is very detailed. But Q-23:1 is the most exhaustive description Elvira has ever given of the consolation assault. The reader can easily compare the table and the quoted dialogue excerpt, and note how many items in Mollbeck's account that are missing in Elvira's own account.

There are further problems. Elvira visited her incest therapist on 1992-05-07, and that she was interrogated by the police on 1992-05-08. On neither of these two occasions did she have any recollection of what she allegedly had told Mollbeck a few days earlier.

We should also note that Mollbeck on 1992-04-29 stated that most of what Elvira had told her about sexual abuse, she had recounted during the last three weeks – while Elvira on the preceding day (1992-04-28) had no recollections at all, but was sure that no assault had occurred during the last 5½ years.







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