All three of the accused, two 19-year-olds and a 17-year-old, have invoked the equality of age condition in Norway’s statutes on the age of consent, which gives the judiciary some latitude to decide on whether punishment is necessary when the protagonists of a case are of a similar age.
The victim in this case is 15-years-old. The age of consent in Norway is 16.
Poilce lawyer Sissel Kleiven said that all three men, who each had sex with the victim at different times at different locations in the centre of Nordfjordeid and not at the nearby festival as first claimed, have insisted that the acts were consensual. “We have no basis to bring charges of rape,” Kleiven added.
The three defendants have been charged under Penal Code section 196, which includes sexual intercourse with children under 16 years-old. The penalty is imprisonment up to a maximum of six years.
The Malakoff rock festival in Nordfjordeid has run since 2003 and this year was headlined by UK band, Kaiser Chiefs.
Please whitelist us to continue reading.