Swedish television to broadcast funeral of slain girl

Apr 30, 2008, 16:15 GMT

Stockholm - In a surprise move, Swedish public broadcaster SVT said Wednesday it planned to broadcast the funeral service of a murdered 10-year-old girl citing that her fate symbolized how 'vulnerable' children are.

Engla Juncosa Hoglund was reported missing April 5 after she was cycling home from football practice in an idyllic village in the province of Dalarna, north-east of Stockholm.

Despite a large search operation, her body was not found until police arrested a truck driver in mid-April who during questioning confessed to murdering her. He later showed where he had dumped the body.

The man, identified as Anders Eklund, also admitted to the murder of a 31-year-old woman in 2000.

DNA traces apparently linked him to both cases, but police have been under fire for failing to act on earlier tips fingering Eklund who has been convicted of other cases of sexual assault.

Eklund was detained after his car was photographed on a country road near the location where the child was last seen April 5. The photograph was taken by a man testing a new camera who just minutes earlier also photographed the missing girl riding her bicycle there.

Per Yng, head of Swedish television news, said the girl was 'a symbol for how vulnerable children are,' and the funeral was a means of offering closure.

Her mother Carina Hoglund who had asked SVT to broadcast the ceremony, welcomed the decision, saying it was a means of thanking everyone who had supported the family.

Critics, including Andreas Ekstrom with the Sydsvenskan newspaper, questioned the public interest, and said the family was likely still in shock and could regret the broadcast in future.