Appeal case after double murder in Kirkenes starts Tuesday
Bengt Ronald Hansen claimed he did not intend to kill his wife Pimsiri Songngam (37) or her 12 year old son, but was not believed. Tuesday, the appeal case starts in Kirkenes.
The now 60-year-old man was sentenced to 21 years in prison in East Finnmark District Court for the murders commited in the family home in Kirkenes in August 2016. The judges in the district court did not believe in the man’s explanation that he only wanted to scare the woman by brandishing a shotgun.
The man appealed on the spot, and next week the appeal case is to be held in the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.
– The verdict is appealed in its entirety. The court of law is investigating both the question of guilt and the verdict, says defender of the man, Stein Rønning, to NTB.
“Hansen has acknowledged being the one who has fired the mortal shots, but he has no consciousness or recollection of the matter, he says.
Penalty rebate
If the court of appeal also finds Hansen guilty, Rønning will request a penalty rebate. The lawyer believes that his client has helped to inform about the case and also consented to detention, and that the conditions for penalty rebate has been met. It was therefore wrong that the district court not to give him a rebate, according to Rønning.
Hansen explained in court that he brandished the semi-automatic shotgun in order to scare the woman; who came to Norway in 2013. But the district court was of a different opinion.
– The murders must be termed as nothing less than being executions since the two were trapped in a room without any means of escape, and the defendant shot them both in the head using a shotgun, according to the verdict in the district court.
About to move
The relationship between the husband and his wife was characterized by conflict during the last few years. The 59-year-old has gambling debts and therefore a strained economy. The man himself was seriously injured after attempting to take his own life using the shotgun.
Thai Songngam and son Petchngam Songngam, called Belt, were shot and killed at closed quarters in the night before August 29 of last year. Based on technical findings, the court believes that the twelve-year-old was shot first. The verdict describes how the neighbours heard the mother scream out in panic and fear of death before she was shot dead.
The mother had already been in contact with the crisis center in Kirkenes, which had provided her and her son with an apartment. They were about to move the day after the murders too place.Hålogaland Court of Appeals has set aside four days for the case.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
