A 15-year-old boy from the small community of Kapp on the western shore of Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa, died at Ullevål University Hospital in Oslo on Monday, nearly a month after police were called to his family’s home. They found him badly beaten and lifeless, and his father was arrested shortly thereafter.
Police were called to the house after a neighbour heard cries for help from the boy’s mother, who’d been locked out on a second-floor balcony by the boy’s father, who had driven off in the family’s car. After helping her down from the balcony, the neighbour and mother called police, who found the boy unconcious and with serious head wounds in the house. They immediately tried to resuscitate the boy, who was later flown in an ambulance helicopter to Ullevål.
Another patrol car found the family’s car and the father in the vicinity of a nearby church. He admitted to charges of attempted murder that later were expanded to include sexual assault on a minor.
On Monday police confirmed that the victim of the sexual assault charges was the man’s son, who has now died of injuries inflicted by the father. The father was also charged with restricting the movements of the boy’s mother. He has been in police custody ever since what police called “serious violence” in the family’s home on the morning of October 9.
“This is a terribly tragic case,” Inger Marie Støen, an attorney representing the family told state broadcaster NRK. Håvard Fremstad, defense attorney for the father, said his client “has given a lengthy clarification of what happened, and ended with declaring himself guilty.” No weapons were involved, according to police. Newspaper VG reported that the couple also had two other children.
What’s now become a murder has severely shaken Kapp, which has a population of only around 2,000 people. Crisis help was on offer, not least for friends and fellow students of the 15-year-old.
newsinenglish.no staff
