Norway’s tram and metro system has been dealing with an unusually messy problem for several years. A woman in her 50s habitually uses tram and metro seats as a toilet, despite being convicted of public urination and defecation on more than 100 occasions.
Newspaper Aftenposten reported Tuesday that the woman has been convicted once again, and was sentenced last week to seven more months in prison, for defecating on the tram and metro 12 times last autumn. Much of her latest jail term has already been served, though, since she’s been held in remand custody for the past five months.
She was first convicted in 2013, then again in 2014 and 2015 and has served prison time. Aftenposten reported that she also urinated on a chair in the Oslo City Courthouse during a custody hearing in the fall of 2015. Her most recent conviction encompassed charges of disturbing the peace, theft and violating liquor laws as well.
She’s officially been banned from going onboard public transportation in Oslo, but ignores it and she has refused all offers of help. Cato Asperud, communications chief for Sporveien, which runs the trams and metro, called the situation “sad from one end to another.” He claimed the transit system doesn’t mean to harass her, “but we also have to take all our other passengers into consideration. We can’t have situations like this on board our trams that need to be in service all day long.”
The woman has also been ordered to pay Sporveien more than NOK 50,000 in compensation, for having to clean up after her.
newsinenglish.no staff
