An autopsy into the death of 17-year-old Johanne Zhanglia Ihle-Hansen in Bærum last month has concluded that she was killed with two shots to her head and two to her chest. Her step-brother, 21-year-old terror defendant Philip Manshaus, is charged with her murder, which police now confirm was motivated by her Chinese ethnicity.
“We have now confirmed that the background for the murder was that she was of Asian origin,” prosecutor Pål Fredrik Hjort-Kraby told state broadcaser NRK on Tuesday. “That’s supported by the clarification of the man charged and by the technical examination at the murder scene, which concluded that she (Ihle-Hansen) did not put up any resistance.”
Hjort-Kraby said she was shot in her own bed in her room at the family home at Eiksmarka in Bærum, just west of Oslo. The murder weapon was a 22-caliber rifle that was found in the car that Manshaus parked outside a mosque in Bærum, where he later started shooting on August 10 in what’s been described as a terrorist attack.
Manshaus, a right-wing extremist who has said that only ethnic Norwegians should be allowed to live in Norway, planned to attack Muslims in addition to his step-sister, who had been adopted from China 15 years ago. Hardly anyone was at the Al-Noor Islamic Center when he arrived, however, and he was quickly overpowered by two elderly men who held him until police arrived. There were no casualties.
Manshaus, who remains held in isolation, testified at his last custody hearing that his step-sister’s murder and the attack on the mosque were something he “had to do.” He raised his right arm in a Nazi salute when he arrived in the courtroom.
His family deplores his actions, invited local representatives of the Muslim community to their daughter’s funeral and asked that donations be made to Norway’s Anti-Rascism Center in lieu of flowers. They have also expressed gratitude for the support they’ve received.
NRK reported Tuesday night that donations to the Anti-Racism Center were generous and ongoing, and that the money would be used to promote tolerance and integration, not least through youth programs.
newsinenglish.no staff
