After a 22-year-old Syrian migrant was convicted for beating his pregnant girlfriend and rubbing strong spices in her eyes, a Swedish court ordered his deportation from the country. However, now the Swedish Court of Appeal has reversed his deportation order and will allow him to stay in Sweden despite the vicious assault.

The man was initially convicted in the Ångermanland district court to nine months in prison and deportation, including for gross breach of the peace and subjecting his girlfriend to torture and abuse, among other charges.

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The court found that the man beat his girlfriend in the face with a clenched fist, poured oil all over her body, and rubbed strong cooking spices in her eyes. The woman, who was pregnant at the time, suffered from bruising, swelling, and temporary loss of sight, reports Swedish media outlet Dagens Juridik.

On a separate occasion, the man accused her of infidelity while they were spending a night at a hotel. He then proceeded to punch her in the face and whip her with a charging cable. He also bit her nose twice and strangled her.

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The district court ruled in its deportation order that the man be banned from Sweden for five years, pointing to the extreme violence of the acts, which indicated a high risk that the suspect would commit another crime upon his release.

The Court of Appeal for Lower Norland actually increased the sentence to one year and four months in prison, but it halted the deportation order. Given Sweden’s criminal justice system, in which convicts often spend far less time in prison than their original sentence, the man is likely to be back on the streets within a year, assuming he does not commit further offenses in prison.

The court found that the man is homeless, unemployed, and has engaged in repeated crimes in the past, which normally strengthens the case for deportation.

Remix News reported yesterday that four Eritrean migrants — convicted for violently gang-raping a 40-year-old Swedish woman and filming the attack — will also be allowed to stay in the country. The prosecutor in the case demanded deportation and a ban on entering Sweden for 15 years, but the judge denied the request.