Two migrant men masquerading as teenagers are being prosecuted after raping a young child at a Swedish asylum centre, attacking him “ruthlessly” and even filming the assault.

The 12 year old boy was made to share a room with two others, who were said at the time to be 15 years old at the Alvesta asylum centre in Sweden. The child was subjected to at least one attempted rape, and a number of rapes by one of his room mates and another migrant at the centre, which the authorities became aware of in early January.

After police were called it become apparent the men had lied about their age — an increasingly common phenomenon in Europe as child migrants are given greater benefits than adults — and were in fact fully grown migrant males. Prosecuting the case, Emma Berge told the court a dental x-ray proved one of the men was 18 to 19 years old, and the other was certainly over the age of 18.

Investigations into the case have also revealed the raped child was not supposed to be in the home at all, as the building was only licenced to accept migrants in their later teens. Yet he was put into a private room with what they thought were older boys, and the police were not called over an earlier attempted rape.

The case is being treated as especially serious by the prosecutor as not only did the rapists film themselves attacking the boy, but they “exhibited particular ruthlessness and harshness”. As well as being prosecuted for the rapes, the men are suspected under child porn laws for making a recording.

Despite the video recording being held by the police, both men still deny they raped the child.

More here.