Rikard Sundén, a founding member of Swedish metallers Sabaton, has been convicted of sexual abuse of an eight-year-old girl and possession of child pornography.
Sundén, who played guitar in the band from 1999 until 2012, was found guilty of abusing his daughter’s friend while she stayed at their house overnight.
According to court documents obtained by MetalSucks, authorities also seized two computers and a mobile phone belonging to Sundén and subsequently found six films which showed underage children taking part in sexual acts.
The eight-year-old girl alleged that the incident occurred in February 2020 when Sundén snuck into her room, lifted her blankets and proceeded to molest her.
She told her own mother a month later, before delivering a testimony to police.
Sundén’s legal team unsuccessfully tried to argue that the guitarist had not touched the young girl, and that the contact was in fact made by his own daughter. He admitted watching the child pornography, but insisted that he had not downloaded the files in the first place.
A Swedish court found Sundén guilty of one count of child sexual abuse and six counts of possession of child pornography. He has been sentenced to nine months in prison, and damages totalling SEK 53,400.
Despite leaving Sabaton in 2012, Sundén had remained active in the Swedish metal band Civil War until last month, when the group had announced that he had been replaced.
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