Sunday 5 May 2013

The Domenic Johansson case crops up again




I was interested to see that on several home education lists in this country, attention is once again being drawn to the case of Domenic Johansson in Sweden. As some readers may recollect, this boy was being home educated by his parents in Sweden, who then attempted to leave the country to travel to India with their son. Since then, almost four years ago, the child has been in foster care.

What fascinates me about this business is the way that the story constantly changes and mutates, until you simply do not know what to believe. For example, when first we heard about it in 2009, it was a simple matter of the Swedish authorities not approving of home education and seizing the boy so that he could be sent to school in Sweden. However, the latest twist is that this does not appear to be what happened at all; at least according to his mother. See;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2138545/Norway-kid-row-replay-Sweden.html


This is the first time that I have read an interview with the mother. All the other information about the case comes from either the father or from various American Christians. You will note that the mother does not seem to think that home education has anything to do with the authorities taking her son. She believes it was because he appeared to be neglected or that she and her husband were too poor to look after him.

There is mention of the famous earthquake in this article, according to which, ‘her husband was forced to return to his native country as his family had lost everything in the calamity’.  I have heard half a dozen versions of this story too, including two different ones from the husband himself.  In one version, he lost all his money and possessions not in the earthquake but by being robbed when he was in a taxi on the way to the airport to return to Sweden. In another, told to an American pastor, he tried unsuccessfully to get to the earthquake zone as he hoped to help there. The mother’s family claim that he was running a travel agency and lost the business as a result of the earthquake. I exchanged emails with Christer Johansson a few years ago, asking what had actually happened. He told me that he could not remember!

I would advise home educating parents in this country to be a little cautious about being drawn into this saga; at least until they have a definitive version of events. There is probably more to this case than meets the eye.

12 comments:

  1. The problem we have with stories like this is we have to rely on the media for the information. Going on the fact you have posted an article from the daily fail I'm not even going to get into a discussion about it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be because Simon is like the daily fail & wouldn't know the truth about anything even if it smacked him in the face

      I wonder if any of the family have a blog or something about what happened

      Delete
    2. http://friendsofdomenic.blogspot.co.uk/
      https://sites.google.com/site/homeschoolinginsweden/sweden---the-next-germany-/the-state-abduction-of-dominic-johannsson
      http://freesweden.net/domenic_johansson.html
      Just a few different sites about the case just from
      Googling for anyone interested.
      Not read any myself as yet so can't comment in them

      Delete
  2. 'That would be because Simon is like the daily fail & wouldn't know the truth about anything even if it smacked him in the face

    I wonder if any of the family have a blog or something about what happened'

    I posted the link to the Daily Mail because this was what was posted on the EO Support list; not because I thought it an accurate version of events. Most of what I know about this case comes from those involved, such as Christer Johansson, with whom I exchanged emails. If anybody wishes to email me privately at simon.webb14@btinternet.com, then I will put them in touch with the parents and various other people so that they can ask the questions which are not covered in the media.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 'http://friendsofdomenic.blogspot.co.uk/
    https://sites.google.com/site/homeschoolinginsweden/sweden---the-next-germany-/the-state-abduction-of-dominic-johannsson
    http://freesweden.net/domenic_johansson.html
    Just a few different sites about the case just from
    Googling for anyone interested.
    Not read any myself as yet so can't comment in

    I am not easy about two of these sites being advertised here. Free Sweden Net and Home Schooling in Sweden are both run by a cult leader called Christopher Warren, against whom are many accusations of paedophilia. I really don't want to see people being put in touch with this man. The Friends of Domenic Johansson is run by an American woman in Indiana. She has never met the Johanssons and does not know any more than other people about the case.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Feel free to remove anything you don't like after all it is your blog

      Delete
    2. Didn't you once say that Christopher warren had some smear campaign against the Johansson's? If so why would he be supporting them now?

      Sorry confused here. I get that you don't like the guy & why but if these 2 sites are run by him then there wouldn't be support for the family on them

      Delete
  4. 'Feel free to remove anything you don't like after all it is your blog'



    I'm not a great fan of censorship or moderation. Those interested in the man who runs the Free Sweden Net site might like to look at the following account:

    http://www.nccg.info/jannicke.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But did you not say 'Christopher Warren gives in quite quickly to requests of this sort. He has an article on his site denouncing a smear campaign against the Johansson family which he accuses me of orchestrating. When he first put it up, he mentioned me by name. I contacted him and gave my views quite firmly. He removed my name within hours. If anybody does not wish to have their names connected to this man, I suggest they do the same.' So I will ask the question again if these 2 sites are run by this man why is he now supporting the family?

      Delete
  5. 'So I will ask the question again if these 2 sites are run by this man why is he now supporting the family?

    Christopher warren has always had an interest in the Johansson case and used it as an example of the bad behaviour of the Swedish authorities towards home education. I have written extensively about this before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes & I'm just reading that post now. The comments are really funny

      Delete
  6. What really happens here is the fact that the so-called authorities keep changing the so-called reasons to justify their abduction. Therefore the parents have no idea anymore why this happened and what was wrong, because everytime they are told something else. I have friends in Sweden that go through the same ordeal as I write this down. It is outragious and atrocious! The Swedish authorities are just brain-washing machines that try to distroy loving families and scar them for life with unbelievable-abusive exepriences like these - this is what it is!

    ReplyDelete