– I think they are all coincidences – VG

Night to Sunday, March 10, around 01.40. A taxi passes the house of the then Minister of Justice, Tor Mikkel Wara, and discovers that it is burning in a car parked in the yard outside the house.

Wara is even on a football trip to Liverpool with his friends, and Bertheussen was home alone that night.

Bertheussen is arrested by PST at his own home four days later.

The prosecution believes that she started the car herself and that they have several things that speak in favor of this:

• Bertheussen’s phone shows that he was on the move during the relevant period.
• The front door opens and closes four times between 00.07 and 01.30.
• Hidden surveillance cameras show no one else enters the front of the house. Technicians and the dog patrol found no sign of anyone approaching the house from the back.
• Of the six cameras installed in the house, only one was operational. Tonight, however, it was turned off three times after midnight, the last time between 01.25 and 01.31. The prosecution believes this was done from inside the house.
• Bertheussen bought rubbing alcohol the day before. According to the police, the fire was started with isopropyl alcohol.
• The wire and spark plug found in the house are the same type as those found in the car.

– Remember little

Bertheussen explains in court that he had drunk a lot that day and that night and that he therefore remembers little. She says she also took a sleeping pill before going to bed.

In questioning at 03:13 that night, Bertheussen says that he went to bed between midnight and 00:30. He has also repeated it in subsequent interrogations. In court, however, she says this is not true.

– We have seen that I plug in my mobile to go to bed at 01.33. What I think is happening is that I leave the door open for the cat, probably with a shoe, while she goes up to take care of me. I don’t remember it, but it seems normal, says Bertheussen in court.

The home’s security system records when the front door opens and closes. The last time the door is opened is at 01.20, before closing at 01.30.

– The door opens and closes four times between midnight and 01:40, which is the time you discovered the fire, who do you think opened the door? Formo asks.

– It’s only me who is in the house, so it’s only me who opens the doors. I probably opened the door to see if the cat would come in, so it could have been standing at the door, says Bertheussen.

– Do I understand that this with the cat is something that you have reasoned until after seeing the evidence in the case?

– Because it’s a normal situation.

– Could you have another explanation?

– I leave that speculation to you.

– Everything is coincidence

– The door is open, the cameras are disconnected, are all these coincidences?

– Yes.

– So you were buying red alcohol. Red alcohol has been found at the site. Is it also a coincidence that you were buying alcohol?

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– I had planned to smoke the reindeer steak. She lay in brine waiting. The coincidence here must be that someone started my car, not that I had planned to smoke.

Formo says that string was also found at the scene of the fire, and that it is likely the same type that was seized at the home of the cohabiting couple.

– Is it also a coincidence?

– Ordinary kitchen twine? Yes, it is a coincidence. I think it is all coincidence.

– Red alcohol, string and similar spark plugs. All of this he had had access to on that particular weekend.

– Yes, probably you too.

Handling

Furthermore, the prosecution believes that after Bertheussen’s indictment, several things have been done that are interesting to the case.

They believe that the switch, a box belonging to the surveillance cameras and a magnetic contact in a door were tampered with after the police carried out a technical inspection of the house. In addition, they have noticed that one of the photos that was sent to the Elden Law Firm in August shows the inscriptions on Bertheussen and Wara’s car, with traces of fingerprint dust.

The shipment also contains a letter claiming to be a group behind the incidents. They explain how they got to Wara and Bertheussen’s house.

After the car fire, the car was transported to the Falck facility in Ensjø. It remained there until it was sold in February of this year.

– What do you think when you see the evidence we have presented? This group must have entered Falck’s premises in Ensjø, must have entered his house, must have sabotaged the switch and the magnetic contact. Do any of these things surprise you? Formo asks.

– I am amazed at many things, but above all how you have treated him here.