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The 55-year-old man denounced a 16-year-old for violence. The boy’s explanation led the police to a sensational discovery.
After receiving the 55-year-old’s report in spring 2018, the police brought the 16-year-old for questioning. There, the boy said that the reported incident was due to the 55-year-old man making sexual statements to him.
Police found the boy’s explanation credible and began investigating the man. A few days after the boy was reported, the police searched the home of the man who had reported him.
There they found 1,260 photographs and seven videos that sexualize children or show sexual abuse of children. The seizure was somewhat larger, but some of the films and images were removed, as police were unable to prove that the children in these images and videos were under 18 years of age.
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Most of the images appeared to be from nude events, but some images also showed severe child abuse.
The 55-year-old man denied his criminal guilt in Oslo District Court. He explained that he suffered from collector mania. He downloaded large amounts of porn from the web and stored these files on various hard drives. The man had downloaded packages of photos and films that were open online and claimed that he did not know that any of this material was illegal. He also explained that he believed the limit was for children under 16, which is the minimum sexual age in Norway.
The court cannot see that there is a basis for acquittal based on an error of law. It is well known that even if things are open online, it is not automatically legal. The court notes that (…) after its own explanation it was aware that child pornographic material is punishable, including that the police have established systems that ensure that you receive a warning if you go to a website with child pornographic content. He also explained that he follows the media well and that he has read about it. In the opinion of the court, it then presupposes that it should not have known that the production of a sexual character by persons under the age of 18 is punishable, writes the Oslo District Court in the ruling.
Also read: Convicted for the largest seizure of abusive material in the history of Norway
The 55-year-old man was sentenced to 120 days in unconditional prison. Then the court had given him a 30 percent penalty reduction because the police had dropped the case for a year, from spring 2018 to spring 2019, doing nothing.
The investigation of the 16-year-old for violence was dropped due to the position of the evidence.
The man’s lawyer, Peter Sekulic, says his client has not pleaded guilty and is now considering whether to appeal the verdict.
“Beyond that, I have no comment,” says Sekulic.
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