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CRIME

Norway double murder: Victim wanted to leave husband

The woman who was shot and killed along with her 12-year-old son in Kirkenes was in the process of leaving her husband, according to media reports.

Published: 30 August 2016 09:02 CEST
Norway double murder: Victim wanted to leave husband
A makeshift memorial established for the victims. Photo: Ole-Tommy Pedersen / Finnmarken / NTB scanpix
The 37-year-old woman and her son, who were both Thai nationals, were found severely injured in a Kirkenes residence shortly before 5am on Monday. Both died from their wounds shortly thereafter. 
 
The woman’s 59-year-old husband was also severely injured in the incident. He was brought to hospital in Tromsø by air ambulance and is now facing murder charges.
 
 
The University Hospital of North Norway told NTB that the man’s condition is stable and not life threatening.
 
According to broadcaster NRK, an impending breakup of the couple’s marriage is likely behind the double murder. The 37-year-old woman reportedly wanted out of the marriage.
 
One of the woman’s close friends told VG that he brought her to a shelter last week before reporting her husband to the police for psychological abuse.
 
Norasenteret in Kirkenes, a centre for abuse victims, confirmed to NRK that the deceased woman was in contact with the centre just days before she was murdered. According to the woman’s friend, she was scheduled to move into the centre on the same day she was killed.
 
The friend said that the woman spoke briefly with police, but he claims that they did not take any action. He is now accusing officers of not doing their job.
 
But Finnmark Police Commissioner Ellen Katrine Hætta told NRK that the woman denied having been abused by her husband and was primarily concerned with her son’s legal status in Norway.
 
“She was in contact with the police last Friday. At that point, she was mostly worried about the status of her son’s residence permit if she were to leave her husband,” Hætta said. 
 
According to VG, the couple was married in 2013. The woman had a Norwegian residence permit but it was not immediately known if her son also had a valid residence permit.
 
Police are working on the theory that the 59-year-old man shot his wife and stepson and then turned the gun on himself. 
 
“We believe it is likely that it is the accused man who did it, based on the findings we have so far,” chief investigator Torstein Pettersen said. 
 
Pettersen said questioning the man would be the top priority once the man’s physical condition allows it. 
 
The National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) is assisting Finnmark Police with the investigation. 

SPORT

Norwegian police charge Olympic champion’s father for domestic violence

Norwegian police said Monday that Gjert Ingebrigtsen, father and former coach of 1,500m Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, had been charged with domestic violence against a family member.

Published: 29 April 2024 16:41 CEST
Norwegian police charge Olympic champion's father for domestic violence

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway last October when they accused their father of being violent.

“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote in an op-ed for newspaper VG. “We still feel a sense of discomfort and fear that we have felt since childhood,” they added.

Police opened a probe into the abuse claims and on Monday said prosecutors had decided to charge Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 58, with domestic violence against one of his children.

According to a source close to the case, the acts in question do not concern the trio of known athletes but another, younger child.

Over a period of four years, from 2018 to 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly manhandled, insulted, threatened and hit the child in the face with his hand or with a towel.

Responding to questions from AFP, Therese Braut Vage, who led the investigation, would not confirm this account.

Police said they had closed investigations into other events concerning the six other children in the home either due to a lack of evidence or, in one case, because the statute of limitations having expired.

Gjert, who coached Jakob until after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo — where Jakob won the gold — has always denied the accusations against him.

“As far as the dismissed cases, we agree that there is no evidence to prove that Ingebrigtsen committed any wrongdoing,” his lawyer John Christian Elden told AFP on Monday.

“For the rest, Ingebrigtsen disputes the description of the facts on which the indictment is based — and he therefore does not admit his guilt,” he continued in an email.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most successful of the three brothers, twice winning gold in the world championships 5000m in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Olympic 1500m gold.

The 23-year-old is also preparing for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Henrik, 33, and Filip, 31, were European champions in the 1500m in 2012 and 2016 respectively.

After breaking with his sons, Gjert Ingebrigtsen shocked Norwegian athletics by becoming the trainer of another runner, Narve Gilje Nordas.

The Norwegian Olympic Committee has said that Gjert will not be granted accreditation for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, as was the case at last year’s World Athletics Championships.

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