That was what a Norwegian teenager told the court during his trial for the murder last summer of a 13-year-old girl at Varhaug, south of Stavanger. On Monday his father was also indicted, for tampering with evidence after he washed blood off his son’s clothing.
The father now faces two years in prison for washing his son’s blood-stained clothing on the morning after 13-year-old Sunniva Ødegård was foumd bludgeoned to death with a hammer while walking home from a visit to a girlfriend. The father of the murder defendant, both of whom are not being identified in accordance with Norwegian press standards, has also been accused of washing blood off the handle of a hammer he found in the home he shared with his son.
Police have verified that the hammer was used to kill Ødegård. The father of the accused testified in court on Monday that he had realized his son “was about to burst.” His son, however, explained the blood on his clothing as the result of “being in a fight.”
That proved to be untrue. The young murder defendant, who was 17 at the time, has testified that he’d been home, sitting alone at his computer, when he “went out and just decided that I should kill someone.” He claimed it was “pure coincidence” that he ran into Sunniva Ødegaard and that she became his victim.
“I couldn’t manage any more of this world,” he testified. “There was so much pressure on me in this world.” He now faces what’s called forvaring, or indefinite custody as a means of protecting the public.
newsinenglish.no staff
