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DONE: The victim was removed from the home in December 2018. Photo: Gisle Oddstad, VG
A 35-year-old man has been sentenced by the Borgarting Court of Appeal to 19 years in prison for the murder of his wife and the negligent murder of their four-month-old son.
The murder of his wife took place at the family home on Christmas Eve 2018. The 6 and 8-year-old boys tried to arrest their father. He also injured his 6-year-old son and was found guilty of serious child abuse.
The man was also found guilty of negligently causing the boy’s death in February 2017. The boy was then 19 weeks old and was left alone in a tub of water by the father for the boy to drown, according to the verdict.
Background: Man charged with the murder of his wife in Sarpsborg
The Court of Appeal finds it clear that the murder was carried out in particularly aggravating circumstances, the ruling states. The court notes, among other things, that the woman was attacked and murdered in her own home, and subjected to massive violence, without the opportunity to defend herself.
The great extent of the damage and the children’s description of the mother’s cries, gives a clear picture of the significant pain and fear that she must have felt, the sentence affirms.
The court also emphasizes that the children were present at all times, and also tried to prevent the father from committing the murder.
“The children were also with the father in the house about two hours before the police arrived, and the father forced them into the room where the mother was lying on the floor with a lot of blood,” says the verdict.
The verdict was rendered on December 4. The man was ordered to pay half a million crowns in reparation to each of the children, in addition to compensation for the loss of the breadwinner. The parents of the deceased received NOK 200,000 each in restitution.
The central question was whether the accused was sane. At this point, there was dissent in the Sarpsborg District Court when the case was heard there. The court-appointed experts also disagreed in district court on whether the defendant was psychotic at the time of the act.
The Court of Appeal unanimously concluded that the accused was sane and criminally responsible.
The experts were the same during the appeal hearing, but one couple changed their position so that all the experts on slightly different terms agreed that the defendant was not psychotic.
