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Suspect’s prints found at 98-year-old’s home

Police revealed on Friday they had found the fingerprints of an 18-year-old suspect at the home in Os, western Norway, of 98-year-old murder victim Hilda Feste.

Published: 24 February 2012 14:09 CET
Suspect's prints found at 98-year-old's home
Photo: Marit Hommedal/Scanpix (File)

Nordhordland district court on Friday morning ordered that the suspect be held in pre-trial custody for a further four weeks following his arrest on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old is charged with raping and murdering the victim on the evening of New Year’s Day.

Defence lawyer Rolf Knudsen said on Wednesday that his client was drunk on the night of Feste’s murder and had no recollection of his movements over a period of several hours.

Hilda Feste was sexually abused before being beaten to death.

Knudsen said the suspect has a job, and his only previous convictions were for traffic offences.

At a press conference on Tuesday evening, prosecutor Asbjørn Onarheim said the arrest had been undramatic.

Onarheim said technical evidence had led police to the 18-year-old, who was questioned at an early stage of the investigation after information emerged about him being seen outdoors in Os on the evening of the murder.

A phone operator in Hamarøy in the north of the country, was the first to realize that Feste was in distress after the 98-year-old set off her emergency medical alarm.

Since the alarm allows for two-way communication, the operator heard what was happening in the apartment.

According to alarm operator service HT Safe, and officials from Os council, the operator placed a call to the town’s home-care service after failing to establish verbal contact with Feste.

The home-care nurse on duty in the building next door to Feste’s was then sent to the woman’s apartment at the Oshaugen care facility.

When the care worker looked through the window and saw the woman being attacked, she retreated to a safe location and notified the police.

The nurse then phoned two of her colleagues who were working nearby. Together, the three of them entered Feste’s apartment, where they found the 98-year-old woman suffering from massive head injuries.

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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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