The Hedmark County Court found the husband of Janne Jemtland guilty on Monday of not only murdering her but carrying out a cold and calculating execution. The court found no circumstances for a mild sentence, ordering that Svein Jemtland be jailed for 18 years.
He had first reported his wife missing after a holiday party last December. Her body was later found wrapped up in plastic with a gunshot wound in her forehead and sunken in a river several miles from the couple’s home in Brumunddal. Her body had been weighted down with a 38-kilo battery.
Jemtland, who has claimed his wife threatened him with the pistol kept in their bedroom and that it went off accidentally, filed an immediate appeal. “He disagrees with the verdict, and we believe the punishment is much too severe,” his defense attorney told state broadcaster NRK.
Jemtland was also ordered to pay NOK 400,000 in compensation to both of the couple’s young sons. One of them was home at the time of the murder and testified that his father had instructed him on what to tell police.
The judge in the case agreed with the prosecutor’s request for an 18-year prison term and that the murder was carried out in the style of an execution “with a shot right in the forehead.”
newsinenglish.no staff
