In a harrowing account of a childhood marred by darkness, a woman has revealed how she continues to love her father despite his conviction as a cannibalistic murderer who killed and ate her stepmother.
A Childhood Steeped in Horror
Jamie-Lee Arrow has described her upbringing in her father's home as akin to stepping into a horror movie. Her father, Isakin Drabbad, infamously known as 'The Skara Cannibal', was obsessed with satanic imagery and filled their Swedish home with pictures from films like Friday the 13th and Freddy Krueger.
Jamie-Lee recounted a deeply disturbing upbringing where her father spoke constantly of the devil, demons, and evil spirits, even attempting to introduce her to the "other side". He gave her a satanic bible when she was just 11 years old and crafted macabre voodoo dolls for her, of which she had about ten in her room.
The Nightmare Unfolds
The situation reached its horrific climax in 2010. Drabbad, then 32, murdered his 40-year-old girlfriend, Helle Christensen—a woman Jamie-Lee considered a "second mum"—in their home in Sweden.
On the evening of 12 November 2010, after more than 24 hours of violent fighting, Drabbad took a knife, climbed onto the bed where Helle was, and slit her throat. He then decapitated her and cut pieces of flesh from her arms and legs, which he later cooked with salt and homegrown cannabis leaves.
Chillingly, Jamie-Lee revealed that Helle had foreseen her own death. During a final meeting, Helle served her food and stated, "enjoy your meal, cause this is the last time I'll ever cook for you because Isakin is going to kill me."
An Unbreakable, Complicated Bond
Despite the unimaginable trauma and her father's subsequent conviction and committal to a mental health hospital in 2011, Jamie-Lee insists her love for him remains. Speaking to ITV's This Morning and in the documentary Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks, she explained the complexity of her feelings.
"I think it's impossible to stop loving a parent," she said. "I know that now, he could do whatever in the world and I would keep loving him, but that doesn't mean he can be a part of my life, and that doesn't mean I agree with anything that he's doing."
Now a mother herself, Jamie-Lee is focused on breaking the cycle of darkness. She told LadBible she is determined to give her children "safety and unconditional love", vowing they will never be introduced to the kind of horror she endured. Drabbad was made an outpatient in 2020 and now lives in an apartment in his Swedish hometown.
