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Oslo man admits axeing to death gay love rival

An Italian man has pleaded guilty to murdering his ex-boyfriend's new lover with an axe, after ambushing the couple disguised as a woman in a leopard skin coat.

Published: 30 September 2015 12:02 CEST

Oslo man admits axeing to death gay love rival

Gianluca Ros stood waiting in the stairwell of the apartment disguised as a woman. Photo: Norwegian Police

Gianluca Ros, 48, waited in the stairwell of the apartment building, wearing the coat and a blond wig, as his ex-boyfriend returned from a holiday in the Canary Islands with his new boyfriend, Jørn Husby, on 15 November last year.

He then attacked Husby (40) with an axe, killing him, and then knifed down his 36-year-old ex, who was brought to hospital with life threatening injuries.

The 36-year-old told the court that he had been previously romantically involved with Ros, and that he had become fearful after he began making angry phone calls to him while he was on holiday with Husby.

“Since he was in disguise, I think he was planning the act,” he said, according to Norway's public broadcaster NRK. “I saw a lady in a coat, and I thought that maybe she was lost. Suddenly, she attacked.”

In court on Wednesday, Ros maintained that he did not consider himself to have split up from the 36-year-old, so his lover's decision to go on holiday with someone else had sent him into a rage.

“I wanted to take my own life, but a voice in my head said 'Why do I have to die alone?'” he told the court.

Ros' lawyer Stein Viken said that his client, who admits murder, was finding it hard to deal with the crime he had committed.

“He is generally not a criminal. He has ended up in a tragic situation that has a reason that will be revealed to the court. Knowing that he has taken a life, and almost another is eating away at him. It is of course a very hard time for him,” Viken told Norway's TV2 broadcaster.

According to NRK, Ros has previously been convicted of attempted murder in the UK.

The 36-year-old is still suffering trauma from the attack.

“He dreads the trial. It will be very tough for him after what he has witnessed and experienced. He looks forward to being finished with the matter,” Birgit Vinnes, the man's lawyer told TV2.

“Physically he is well, but the trauma he has experienced has made him sick, and he has still not fully returned to work,” said Vinnes.

Norway's ex-biathlon boss jailed for three years for corruption

Norwegian Anders Besseberg, the 78-year-old head of the International Biathlon Union from 1993 to 2018, was found guilty of nine of 10 counts of aggravated corruption during the period 2009-2018, charges he denied.

“I am of course disappointed and surprised about the verdict and some of the judges’ reasoning. I am appealing on the spot,” Besseberg told the court after the judge read out the 67-page verdict over the course of almost three hours.

“The defendant breached the trust that came with his position at the IBU by accepting the benefits,” judge Vidar Toftoy-Lohne at the Buskerud district court said.

The prosecution hailed the verdict.

“There is a lot of money in circulation in international elite sport. The federations manage substantial financial assets and make decisions that are important for both athletes and the business community,” prosecutor Marianne Djupesland said in a statement.

“We hope this verdict can contribute to raising awareness and that it will have a preventive effect,” she said.

Prosecutors had sought a jail term of three years and seven months and a fine of one million kroner ($95,000).

The court did not hand down a fine, but ordered Besseberg to return gifts amounting to 1.4 million kroner.

Besseberg admitted accepting gifts but dismissed the notion that corruption was involved.

“Even if I received expensive gifts and was invited by many to go hunting, I must stress that I never let myself be corrupted,” he told the court during his trial, media reported.

Russian shadow

As head of the IBU when the Russian doping scandal exploded in the 2010s, Besseberg was accused of initially hiding cases of Russian doping in his sport in exchange for favours.

Prosecutors dropped that line of attack, but in Norway, receiving improper favours, even if no services are provided in exchange, is enough to constitute corruption.

Russia’s shadow nonetheless hung heavily over the case.

According to an inquiry launched by Sweden’s Olle Dahlin, who succeeded Besseberg as head of the IBU, Besseberg pushed to hold the 2021 biathlon world championships in Tyumen, Siberia, despite the Russian doping scandals.

The contest was eventually awarded to Pokljuka in Slovenia.

Prosecutors argued that Besseberg went on fully paid hunting trips in Austria and in the Czech Republic, and for seven years drove a leased BMW X5, all paid for by Infront, a marketing company that held television rights to the sport.

They argued he was given three watches worth a total of more than 30,000 euros ($33,000), invited on trips to hunt deer and wild boar, and offered services from sex workers, all paid for by Russian officials.

Asked about an Omega watch worth more than 17,000 euros he received in 2011 for his 65th birthday, he said: “I did not think it was undeserved.”

The court said two of the three watches he received constituted corruption.

Besseberg also denied any contact with sex workers, acknowledging only what he said was a consensual affair with a 42-year-old Russian.

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