Another round in court after assault rape in Bærumsmarka

Borgarting District Court assault rapeBorgarting District Court

Another round in court after assault rape in Bærumsmarka

A 41-year-old man Polish natonal maintains that he did not rape a woman in her seventies who was on a trip in the forrest in Bærum last October. The appeal case starts on Tuesday.

 

The man was in March sentenced to five years in prison for the assault rape in Asker and Bærum District Court . The District Court emphasized that the man previously served seven years imprisonment in Germany for four rapes. In Austria, he is suspected of one more. DNA traces stemming from Austria was the crucial evidence against him.

It was considered particularly aggravating that the assault rape occurred in bright day light in an area that is mostly used as a recreational area for the population and to most people is considered safe.

“… the act and the ensuing debate has resulted in many women no longer feel that is safe to venture into the forest on their own. Therefore, the act has not only affected the lives of the victim, but also the general population,” states the District Court.

Orienteering

The assault the man is accused of occurred while the now 72-year-old woman was to find orienteering posts in the area close to Bykrysset in Lommedalen, in the vicinity of Aurevann.

The 41-year-old lived in a caravan in Lommedalen with his brother when the assault was committed. In addition to the DNA, the district court ruled that the insulted woman’s descriptions of the perpetrator were consistent with the accused as he appeared in court.

In addition to five years of imprisonment, the 41-year-old was also sentenced to pay insulted NOK 140,000 kroner in compensation. The man has refused to have had anything to do with the rape and has appealed the verdict.

Tree fetishism

In court, both the defendant and his lawyer suggested that the brother might be the perpetrator and that his DNA might have been transferred to his brother. Additionally, the defense lawyer pointed at pictures from his brother’s smartphone taken around the time of the rape that depicted trees and a rock face.

– The defense’s reference to that someone is sexually aroused by trees appears in this context far fetched. That the brother supposedly took pictures just before attacking the victim and immediately afterwards appears unlikely. In this context, the court disregards the possibility that the brother of the accused brother was the perpetrator, according to the verdict.

Three days are set aside for the trial in Borgarting Court of Appeal.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today