The widow of a Norwegian shipping executive was sentenced on Friday to Norway’s longest prison sentence of 21 years, after an appeals court found her guilty of murdering her husband.
The sentence handed down by the Borgarting lagmannsrett in the so-called “Tranby case” was in line with what prosecutors had requested. The 54-year-old widow of Per Gunnar Asheim was also ordered to pay just over NOK 3.6 million in compensation to the couple’s six children.
The case dates back to Easter of 2013, when Asheim’s charred body was found in the burned-out remains of his wife’s car at a parking area not far from the couple’s home at Tranby in Lier, near Drammen. Prosecutors claimed that Asheim’s wife had drugged him before he was driven to the parking area and the car set on fire.
The woman has consistently pleaded not guilty as charged, claiming her husband must have committed suicide, and she was acquitted by a lower court. Now her defense attorneys are considering an appeal to Norway’s Supreme Court.
Asheim was a director of Frontline, one of the major shipping companies controlled by Norwegian tycoon John Fredriksen. The murder case has received broad media coverage in Norway.
newsinenglish.no staff
