A Swedish court has sentenced a doctor to 10 years in prison for drugging and kidnapping a woman he planned to keep in a specially-built soundproof bunker for years.
Martin Trenneborg, a 38-year-old general practitioner, has been compared to Josef Fritzl, the notorious Austrian father who held his daughter captive for 24 years and raped her repeatedly in a basement.
Trenneborg passed himself off as an American when he met the woman for the first time on September 10 at her Stockholm apartment, after making initial contact online for a date.
Two days later, Trenneborg returned to her place with champagne, strawberries and fruit juice laced with sedatives.
Once she was unconscious, he rolled her in a wheelchair to his car which had fake licence plates.
He then drove 550km (340 miles) from Stockholm to his home near Kristianstad in southern Sweden, where he had a good reputation as a doctor.
Trenneborg then locked the woman into what the prosecution described as an above-ground “bunker” he had built in his yard, which resembled a garden shed from the outside.
But it was soundproofed, outfitted with a toilet and bed, and had two thick doors, opened in sequence with electronic locks.
“The doctor planned his crime meticulously and over a long period. In addition he put the victim at serious risk by drugging her and holding her in very uncomfortable conditions in this isolated bunker,” the court said.
The doctor took blood and vaginal samples from his victim to make sure she wasn’t carrying any sexually transmitted diseases.
He had also been charged with rape, but the charge was rejected for lack of evidence.
During the trial at Stockholm District Court, the victim was visibly shaken, and appeared with her hands covered by black gloves and her head hidden under a scarf.
Her identity has not been disclosed.
“She’s not well. It’s very difficult for her to face him,” her lawyer Jens Hogstrom told the court during the trial.
The defence said Trenneborg was a “broken soul” and a lonely man with few friends.
“He desperately wanted a girlfriend,” attorney Mari Schaub told the court, stressing that her client was remorseful.
Trenneborg has admitted to keeping her against her will, but had denied kidnapping or raping her.
“They had sexual intercourse, but that was consensual. She’s a sex worker and he paid for the sex he had,” Schaub told AFP after the verdict.
Much of the trial was heard behind closed doors.
The man held the woman in the bunker for six days.
After the woman was declared missing, Trenneborg took her to a Stockholm police station and ordered her to tell officers she was fine and nothing suspect was going on.
Police found the couple’s behaviour odd and when they questioned the woman alone, she broke down and told them what had happened.
The man was subsequently arrested.