Murder indicted in Sarpsborg claims not guilty

The man in his thirties, who has been charged with killing his wife in Sarpsborg, is detained for four weeks with a ban on letters and visits. He denies culpability.

His defender, Reidar Steinsvik, informs this to NTB on Saturday afternoon.

“He does not agree with the detention and took time to consider. In connection with the prison meeting, he also denies guilt. I do not want to comment on why he does so, ” the lawyer states.

He says that his client describes his state of health as very poor.

The murder indicted man had not yet explained himself to the police when he was detained for four weeks with a letter and visit ban by the Halden District Court. After the prison meeting, he was taken to the police station at Grålum for another attempt.

Running dialogue

Police lawyer Mohsen Latif informs NTB that this could not be done.

“We are in continuous dialogue with the defender, but the accused has been questioned so far. We are also continuously considering adapted interviews with the children,” he tells.

Latif does not want to say anything about the course of events and neither want to speculate on what is the motive behind the incident. He states that the police work at full strength through the weekend to obtain an overview of what has happened and the background thereof.

“I have noted that several media have written about the murder weapon, I do not want to deny or confirm what was used as a weapon,” the Police Lawyer states.

Indicted for murdering his wife

It was at 10 am on Friday that the police received notification of a serious incident in a residence in Sarpsborg.

When they arrived at the scene, they found a woman severely injured. She was declared dead on the spot shortly after. The husband was arrested at the scene without any drama and later charged with murder.

The police have so far not come up with confirmed information about whether any weapon was used in connection with the murder, and have, therefore, not said anything about whether a possible murder weapon is seized.

Already accused

When the murder in Sarpsborg took place, the accused man was already accused of negligent murder of his four-month-old son, who was found dead in a small bathtub in the same town on February 16, 2017.

When he was arrested on Friday, the man had not yet been served, the man’s defender, Reidar Steinsvik, informs NRK.

The accused was detained in 2017, and according to NRK received psychiatric assistance while he was detained. In a ruling from the Sarpsborg District Court in March 2017, to which the national broadcaster refers, it emerges that the man has health issues after fleeing from Syria, as well as due to settling in Norway and the death of his son.

Neither the man nor the deceased spouse was Norwegian citizens. The woman had been granted temporary residence in Norway, after having received an expulsion notice.

The children were witnesses

The police have confirmed that the couple’s two minor children were in the house when the police arrived at the place where their mother was killed.

They were handed over to the child welfare service after the murder.

According to VG, there were plans for adapted interviews of the two children today, Saturday. These were scheduled to take place in Moss.No information is available to confirm if they have taken place or not at present.