A 16-year-old boy from North Africa has been charged with the murder of a man in Sweden who was found beaten and stabbed to death with a snake around his neck, dressed in women's clothing.

The victim, a 54-year-old homosexual man, was found dead in the flat he shared with his partner in Bergsjön, east Gothenburg in June this year.

A video recovered from the teen's own mobile sees him stand over the victim's body, swearing and shouting profanities, including insults referring to the 54-year-old's sexuality.

Killer: A video recovered from one of the teens' phones, sees the victim lying on the floor, tied up and brutally beaten as the two teenagers callously rob his flat, while shouting profanities and swearwords over his body

The victim was found with his neck and wrists tried with a sweater, an electrical cord wrapped around his neck, and a blanket over his face.

A dead snake had been draped on or around his neck post-mortem, according to court documents seen by Goteborg's Posten.

The 16-year-old arrived in Sweden as an unaccompanied minor after living on the streets in several European countries.

He has told police he and a 19-year-old friend met the victim in a park in Gothenburg, and that he had been dressed as a woman.

When the victim found out that the two teenagers were alone and sleeping rough, he offered to help them with fresh clothes and a shower.

The teens say they met the 54-year-old in a park in Gothenburg and when the victim found out that they were sleeping rough, he offered to help them with fresh clothes and a shower, which was repaid with murder

However, after arriving at the victim's flat, the 16-year-old says the victim's wig fell off and they realised that he was a man.

The video from the incident, filmed in the victim's flat during or after the killing, had been deleted from one of the teens' mobile, but police were able to recover it.

It shows the victim lying on the floor, tied up and brutally beaten as the two teenagers callously rob his flat, putting his belongings in their bags.

A voice, which the prosecutor states belongs to the 16-year-old, can be hears shouting profanities and swearwords over the victim's body, including anti-gay slurs.

The victim was found with his neck and wrists tried with a sweater, an electrical cord wrapped around his neck

The prosecution claims the motive for the murder was the man's sexual orientation, and want to label the killing a hate crime.

'He has brutally beaten him and killed him simply because he was homosexual and dressed in women's clothing,' prosecutor Lotta Nielsen told Expressen.

'In addition to this being a hate crime, it is also a mindless assault and a beastly murder.

The teenagers have given contradictory evidence since their arrest in June, and the victim's long-term partner, who has lived with him 'for many years', says the 54-year-old had never shown an interest in dressing up as a woman.

'It is as if they dressed him up to mock him or something,' the partner said in a police interview.

The 16-year-old has been charged with murder and admits to killing the man, but claims it was self-defence.

His DNA and blood has been found on the dead snake and in other places in the flat.

His 19-year-old friend, who has admitted to being in the flat, but not taking part in the killing, has been charged with protecting a criminal.