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Romanian woman charged with raping 12-year-old boy in Norway

A Romanian woman will appear in a Norwegian court in March to face accusations of having raped a 12-year-old boy.

Published: 14 February 2017 09:27 CET

Romanian woman charged with raping 12-year-old boy in Norway

The woman's trial will begin next month. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

The alleged rape took place in a private residence in the Romerike district northeast of Oslo.

“It is quite rare that police investigate this type of case,” Guro Holm Hansen, an attorney with the Eastern Police District, told local newspaper Romerikes Blad.

The rape allegedly took place during the 2015 Christmas season. The woman was arrested in September 2016 and has since been held in custody.

The woman's lawyer, Cato Johannessen, said that she completely denies her guilt.

“She maintains that this did not happen,” Johannessen said, adding that no relationship exists between the woman, whose age was not given, and the boy.

The woman is registered as officially living in Romania and had reportedly come to Norway to work.

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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