47-year-old man appeals 19-year sentence for murder and attempted murder
A man has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for killing his ex-wife and attempting to kill a passer-by in Norway. He has now decided to appeal the verdict.
47-year-old man appeals 19-year sentence for murder and attempted murder
A 47-year-old man has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for the murder of his former spouse and attempted murder of a person who happened to be passing by. He has now chosen to appeal the sentence to a higher court.
According to TV 2, the district court in Ringerike and Hallingdal found it proven that the perpetrator killed his ex-wife on an open street in Hønefoss last summer. The court also concluded that he attempted to kill Gabriel Calderon Cohn when the latter intervened in the conflict.
The trial was conducted between 27 April and 8 May. The convicted man admitted to striking his ex-wife to death, but claimed his intention was solely to injure her. As a motive, he stated that a restraining order preventing him from contacting the woman – issued following a violence report – had resulted in him being excluded from a church to which he felt a strong attachment.
However, the district court did not believe the explanation that the murder was unintentional. In the verdict, weight is placed on the fact that the knife stabbings were deliberate acts of a lethal nature. The prosecutor characterised the murder as an outright execution on a public street.
Cohn was driving past the scene, got out of his car to help the woman and grabbed a bicycle as a shield. According to the verdict, the perpetrator threatened him with a knife and stated in English that he would kill him. The 47-year-old has consistently denied making threats against Cohn.
The convicted man expressed remorse for his actions during the trial. His defence lawyer, Audun Helgheim, confirms that his client wishes to appeal.
– We have gone through the verdict together, and he has indicated his wish to challenge the decision. Work is being done to have the entire verdict translated into his language, which takes time, Helgheim said.
The defence lawyer adds that the 47-year-old has struggled during the remand detention in Ringerike, where he has been very isolated, and that he has now been transferred to another prison.
During the trial, questions were raised about the convicted man's criminal responsibility. The experts, psychiatrist Janne Hermansen and psychologist Hanne Klevmark, found no psychiatric disorders that affected his perception of reality.
The district court established that the 47-year-old suffered from neither abnormal mental condition, active psychosis nor any other condition that impaired his judgement, and therefore declared him criminally responsible.
The prosecution had demanded 19 years of preventive detention, but the court did not find it documented that there was imminent danger of future serious acts of violence. The demand for preventive detention was therefore rejected.
Source: Google News DK — Crime (da)