Mora District Court’s original ten year sentence was reduced to nine years by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old murderer had made an appeal for his sentence to be reduced to six and a half years because of his age.

The appeal court took the man’s age at the time of the murder into consideration and said that “people under 21 years of age should have more scope for lower sentences”.

When Mora District Court sentenced the man back in June, the judge described the murder as “bestial and senseless” and added that if the man had been older, he would have received a life sentence.

The man got to know his 15-year-old victim over the internet last winter. Telephone records indicate that the man and victim had contact on several occasions up to and during the day of the murder.

They agreed to meet on the evening of February 15th in Mora. The man picked up the girl in his car not far from where she lived. He drove to a local building site with the intention of having sex with her.

However, things got out of control on the way. The man got the girl in a stranglehold and then panicked. He threw her out of the car and smashed a 23 kilo stone against her head, killing her.