A CONVICT who wrongly served 21 years in jail for the rape and homicide of two younger women has been cleared of his crimes.
Viggo Kristiansen, now 43, was falsely convicted of the slaughter of eight-year-old Stine Sofie Sorstronen and Lena Slogedal Paulsen, 10.
4
4
4
The dropping of the costs, following a re-examination of the proof, has been branded certainly one of Norway’s “most critical miscarriages of justice”.
Stine and Lena’s our bodies have been discovered lifeless after they went swimming in a lake in a wooded space within the south of the nation.
On the day of their murders on Might 19, 2000, the 2 women had gone to go to their fathers, who lived in the identical block of flats near the woods the place the lake was.
Kristiansen was sentenced by two completely different courts in 2001 and 2002 to a most attainable sentence of 21 years with the choice to increase.
A courtroom on the time heard that Kristiansen had lured the pair away right into a secluded space whereas pretending to be searching for misplaced kittens.
The decision claimed that Kristiansen had raped the ladies earlier than stabbing them each within the chest and neck.
Their bare our bodies have been discovered coated with leaves and hidden between two giant rocks, whereas their blood-soaked swimsuits have been stuffed in a close-by muddy drainpipe.
He was purportedly helped by his co-defendant Jan Helge Andersen, who informed the courtroom on the time that Kristiansen was the primary perpetrator.
However the brand new investigations reportedly point out that Kristiansen wasn’t concerned in any respect and that the crimes have been solely the work of Andersen.
The ugly nature of the killings despatched shockwaves all through Norway, the place such violent crimes are extremely uncommon.
However when the case was reopened final 12 months, Andersen’s testimony was discredited, after DNA proof was proven to not help his insistence that a number of folks had been concerned within the murders.
The brand new report additionally famous that Kristiansen’s telephone was nicely away from the scene of the crime on the time he was alleged to have carried out the murders.
Lawyer Common Jon Sigurd Maurud informed reporters: “The case has had profoundly tragic penalties, particularly for Kristiansen – who has served greater than 20 years in jail and has thus been disadvantaged of enormous components of his life – and for his family members.
“I, subsequently, need, on behalf of the prosecution, to supply my sincerest apologies for the injustice that has been inflicted.”
That is what we’ve been ready for for 20 years
Svein Kristiansen
Norwegian police forces who carried out the investigation on the time additionally apologised.
Kristiansen’s father, Svein Kristiansen, gave an emotional assertion after studying of his son’s innocence.
He informed the Norwegian publication VG: “That is what we’ve been ready for for 20 years. Lastly, we consider in what we’ve stood for all alongside.
“It’s only a nice pleasure. Lastly, we are able to go forward with getting Viggo into society,” he added.
Kristiansen was launched from jail final 12 months and could also be eligible to request compensation of greater than 30 million Norwegian Kroner (£2.5m) from the state, in accordance with his lawyer.
“If the courtroom of enchantment publicizes an acquittal, this might be one of many largest authorized scandals in Norwegian historical past,” Justice Emilie Enger Mehl informed reporters.
4
Andersen, who obtained a lighter jail sentence of 19 years for cooperating with investigators on the time, now faces additional probes into his actions, the prosecutor added.
It comes after Stine’s brother Kristoffer spoke publicly for the primary time about his sister’s homicide.
He informed Norwegian TV channel NRK that he had been wracked with guilt about his sister’s loss of life for greater than twenty years, explaining that he was meant to go swimming with the 2 women on the day they vanished.
However as an alternative, he had gone residence to construct a brand new pc together with his father, telling the ladies to go swimming alone.
The best way police dealt with their investigations into the “Banaheia Murders” was criticised on the time, after it was discovered cops utilized controversial suggestive query methods, holding “casual conversations” with Andersen earlier than his lawyer arrived.
Throughout this time, the interrogator informed Andersen that police “knew” there was multiple perpetrator within the murders and prompt to him that Kristiansen could have been concerned.
FBI agent Gregg McCrary testified in courtroom in 2011 and mentioned concerning the police’s interview approach: “It is a very alarming approach to interrogate a witness. The police must not ever give the title of attainable perpetrators or ask main questions”
He added that it appeared apparent that Andersen had been “guided” into implicating Kristiansen since his testimony modified from interrogation to interrogation.
Gisli Gudjonsson, a Professor of Forensic Psychology at King’s Faculty London, additionally wrote in his report that the preliminary police interrogator “most probably ruined the case”.
