Terrible news from Sweden

[JaneJefferson]

This case is so sad. A young care worker has been killed and she was alone in the child refugee centre at night. I can't believe she was left alone to care for 11 refugees after all the recent concerns. There are various news articles about it on the web.

[SwedishEdith]

What an awful story. Dreadful that people can be left alone to deal with that kind of situation.

[RancidOldHag]

Her name is Alexandra Mezher, and she was 22 years old.

Reports from the hospital say she was repeatedly stabbed. The centre where she worked is primarily for unaccompanied minors aged 14-17.

[JaneJefferson]

Yes truly awful. The news articles state that the situation is overwhelming in that town. I hope the politicians can see now the errors of their policies. A caring young woman has had to pay with her life.

[SwedishEdith]

The fault, surely, is leaving people to be in sole charge of any refugee or care centre.

[OttiliaVonBCup]

Of course it is.

It's not the killer's fault at all, she was killed because she stayed on her own.

[SwedishEdith]

Well, obviously it's the killer's fault! But anyone looking after vulnerable people shouldn't be left alone to do it.

[staghunter]

No. The fault lies with the person who picked up the knife.

[celeste83]

Why was she left on her own with them?

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

So awful. I've typed loads and deleted it. Difficult to know what to say. So sad for her and her poor family.

[Jesabel]

It's the killer's fault, but if the killer is a traumatised 14-17 year old refugee then they may not be fully culpable.

Having a lone worker at a centre like this is a huge breach of health and safety though.

[fakenamefornow]

The fault, surely, is leaving people to be in sole charge of any refugee or care centre.

Oh yes, no blaim at all can be place on the boy who stabbed her repeatedly.

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Blame anyone but the perpetrator eh Jesabel

[floppyjogger]

Its just so awful, what can anyone say. Her poor family.

How are they going to make sure this doesnt happen in schools if we are taking in thousands of children especially if some of them have no papers to verify their age.

[RJnomore1]

Apparently the rest of the young people in the centre restrained the perpetrator. What an awful thing to happen to the poor woman and also to those other already traumatised children who witnessed it.

[Hedgehogsdontbite]

He may not even be a child. Sweden's policy is to give automatic asylum to unaccompanied children from certain countries and deals with them relatively quickly. Adult males have to apply and be assessed and the process seems to take forever. There is concern that many of these children aren't children and are just exploiting the system.

[honeysucklejasmine]

I have worked with an unaccompanied refugee before. He was a nice enough kid, but openly admitted he was several years older than claimed on arrival. He has been told to say he was younger so he would have access to better housing and qualifications. Can't say I blame him tbh.

It's an awful situation. It really is.

[OttiliaVonBCup]

The shelter houses around a dozen asylum seekers aged between 14 and 19, who are among the thousands of unaccompanied minors who have arrived in Europe without their families in the past year.

that's from the Independent.

14 to 19 YOs aren't children.

[honeysucklejasmine]

*had been told

This was in the late 00s, he was from Afghanistan.

[Wordsaremything]

Come on now. Both these things are true. Yes she shouldn't have been left alone, whatever the pressures. No, those pressures should not have been allowed to happen, nationally, regionally or locally. And no, it in no way absolves her alleged killer. A despicable act, and a symbolic one for the wider world.

If Alexandra's death means anything, let's focus on debating and examining the mucky, grey, difficult truths- and not retreat to our old comfortable certainties.

Because if anything killed that beautiful kind altruistic young woman, those did.

[Hedgehogsdontbite]

To be fair, some of them don't actually know how old they are. I'm friends with a family from Afghanistan. The children all know their ages but their parents only have a rough idea of theirs.

[Wordsaremything]

I should have added ' beyond the person who wielded the knife'

[JaneJefferson]

Well said Words. After all the trouble in Cologne and other cities to leave a young woman on her own in charge of 11 young men, presumably,beggars belief. Something has to be done.Europe has really taken on more than it can chew in all this.

[honeysucklejasmine]

Agree hedgehog, but he was quite open about the fact he was actually 18, not 15. As I say... Don't blame him at all!

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

Some friends of ours are fostering a 16 year old Eastern European. He seems like a lovely lad, but I would bet my house he is more than 16.

[Cellardoor1]

Apparently many of these unaccompanied minors aren't actually minors at all. They just claim to have lost their papers and there is no way of verifying.

here is another case of a 15 year old being involved in an assault against a woman. He was released because of his age but was taken into custody again when it was revealed he was actually 23.

It seems that the situation in Sweden is reaching breaking point.