The Swedish Supreme Court has overturned an appeal court acquittal in a fatal shooting case but the suspect in the case took the opportunity of being out of prison to flee the country and is now believed to be in Africa.

The Supreme Court overturned the appeal court acquittal of 25-year-old Alimamy Cole and sentenced him to life in prison for the fatal shooting of a man at a bus stop in Märsta that took place in October 2020.

Cole was initially found guilty of the murder, which was believed to have been linked to gang conflicts, but an appeals court overturned the verdict and acquitted the 25-year-old, claiming that it could not be ruled out that another person had committed the crime, newspaper Expressen reports. This appeal was subsequently examined by the Supreme Court, which found the initial ruling of murder was correct.

Following his initial acquittal in September of 2021, Cole is believed to have fled Sweden just nine days after his release, firstly to Aris and then to Sierra Leone, according to passage lists obtained by Swedish police.

During the subsequent hearing of the case at the Supreme Court, Cole was not present but the court found that the evidence proved Cole had indeed carried out the fatal shooting.

“The aggregate value of the evidence, in this case, is higher than the added value of the individual evidence; it seems highly unlikely that all the facts revealed by the prosecution’s evidence would exist even if the perpetrator were someone other than AC,” the court said.

Prosecutor General Petra Lundh commented on the Supreme Court ruling saying it would be an important precedent as many gang-related shootings lack witnesses and prosecutions can often be forced to rely on circumstantial evidence.

Sweden’s issues with gang crime and gang violence in recent years have been linked to immigration, with as many as 85 per cent of the suspects involved in fatal shootings coming from migrant backgrounds.

Sweden’s National Police Chief Anders Thornberg admitted last year that migration and problems with integration played a role in the ongoing levels of gang violence saying, “It is based on a number of different factors. A sharp increase in demand for drugs, accelerating technological development and digitalisation, increased migration and lack of integration.”

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.