26-year old Mikael Halvarsson, from Sundsvall, Sweden, was sentenced to spend two years of jail time earlier this year for rape charges after he sexually assaulted a woman sleeping beside him.
Translated court documents revealed that Halvarsson and the woman were sleeping in the same bed on April 2 albeit each had his and her own blanket when the woman woke up as Halvarsson assaulted her. The police who responded to the woman's call still saw Halvarsson sleeping in the bed when they arrived the next morning.
The conviction, however, has been overturned after experts and witnesses helped establish that the attack was not intentional but rather as a result of a rare condition. Experts said the defendant was asleep during the assault and could not even recall the incident.
A doctor who specializes in sleep disorder apparently had crucial influence on the decision of the Sundsvall appeal court in northern Sweden to overturn the two-year sentence, saying that Halvarsson could be suffering from a condition called "sexomnia," a sleep disorder characterized by a person engaging in sexual behavior while asleep. Just like with people who sleepwalk and sleeptalk, experts say that those who suffer from sexsomnia are not aware of their acts and are unable to recall the acts that they have performed.
The doctor's theory was supported by the defendant's former girlfriend who said that Halvarsson previously attempted to have sex with her while he was asleep and that when she stopped him, he looked confused and even asked her what had happened. The defendant's mother also said that her son had disturbed sleeping patterns even before.
Kingman Strohl, from the Sleep Center at Case Medical Center in Cleveland, said that the condition is a one of a kind parasomnia, or an unwanted behavior or experience that occurs during sleep and that this sleep behavior tends to be more prevalent if the person is very tired or had sleep aids. Strohl, however warned that doctors should be careful with people who reason out being asleep when they committed a crime.
"You want to know how people react to it," Strohl said. "You don't want to encourage unwanted sexual advances."
Mark Eric Dyken, University of Iowa's director of sleep disorder clinic said that he has seen people who tried to blame their actions on parasomnia.
"There are bad people and there are sociopaths," Dyken said. "You worry about people utilizing this diagnosis."
