court jailed two brothers for 14 years for murdering a friend 

A Danish court has jailed two brothers for 14 years for murdering a friend on the holiday island of Bornholm last summer.

The killing of Phillip Mbuji Johansen, who had a Danish father and Tanzanian mother, had stirred fears of racism.

However, no charges of hate crime were brought, even through prosecutors said they could not rule it out.

Magnus and Mads Moeller were found to have inflicted a prolonged and brutal attack on their victim.

They were found to have inflicted 39 separate wounds on their 28-year-old victim on 23 June.

Johansen’s legs were broken and he suffered burns, stab wounds and brain damage in a sustained bout of violence that lasted at least 15 to 20 minutes, the court ruled.

The brothers had beaten him with a wooden pole and a bottle, stabbed him with a knife and pressed a knee against his neck.

The forensic pathologist said she had never seen such severe injuries.

Danish authorities were criticised for not highlighting a racist motive in the murder but prosecutor Anna Moe told the court on Monday that they could not be sure of what was going on in the minds of the brothers at the time.