Detained refugee convicted of four years for escape from Vestre Prison and cocaine
Philip Denié Dahl Petersen escaped from Vestre Prison in February and was arrested a month later with two kilograms of cocaine. On Friday, the Frederiksberg Court sentenced him to four years' imprisonment.
Detained prisoner receives four years following escape and cocaine discovery
The detained Philip Denié Dahl Petersen was sentenced to four years' imprisonment on Friday afternoon by the Frederiksberg Court, according to B.T. He has been found guilty of escaping from Vestre Prison in February and possession of two kilograms of cocaine.
The 37-year-old escaped during the night of 4 February from Vestre Prison. In court, he explained according to Ekstra Bladet that he had been placed in a cell without bars on the window after he had been to the toilet. The Danish Prisons Authority has not confirmed this version, but has stated that a chain of security breaches made the escape possible.
Petersen was at large for nearly a month before Copenhagen Police arrested him on 2 March at an allotment garden association in Sydhavnen. During the arrest, police found two kilograms of cocaine at the location.
He denied guilt in the escape, but the court chair rejected the argument: "Although there is no actual confession, the factual circumstances are rather difficult to get around."
Co-defendant convicted of cocaine and sheltering fugitive
The 32-year-old Peter Karlsson has been convicted of having possessed the cocaine together with Petersen – a possession both acknowledged during the trial. He has also been convicted of possession of cocaine and amphetamine over a two-month period in 2020 and 2021, and the sentence is partly an additional sentence to a previous conviction. Karlsson is sentenced to seven and a half years' imprisonment.
A 66-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man were acquitted in the cocaine case. The court assessed that it was not sufficiently proven that they knew there were two kilograms of cocaine in the allotment garden house.
Both have, however, been found guilty of sheltering Petersen in the allotment garden. The woman is sentenced to four months' imprisonment, while the man is sentenced to six months. They have also been convicted of possession of small quantities of narcotics, and the woman also for possession of a knuckleduster.
The two have been in pre-trial detention since March and left the Frederiksberg Court as free persons following the verdict.
Detention remains unchanged
Philip Denié Dahl Petersen is detained by court order for murder and attempted murder committed in connection with a public house brawl in Sydhavnen in 2022. The detention order – indefinite imprisonment for persons assessed as particularly dangerous – has not been affected by Friday's decision.
The four years are thus added on top of a sentence with no defined end date. Petersen has taken time to consider a possible appeal, while the three other defendants have accepted the verdict.
Source: B.T.