Breivik lawyer speaks of grief at daughter's death
Richard Orange - [email protected]
Published: 21 Oct, 2013 CET.
Updated: Mon 21 Oct 2013 11:05 CET
The lawyer who defended Norwegian extremist Anders Breivik has spoken of his grief at his teenage daughter's death from a rare muscle disorder.
Geir Lippestad, who led Breivik's defence team, was at his daughter Rebekka's side when she died on June 13 this year. "She lay in her bed in her room. She woke up and looked at me and made the sign which means she wanted to go to the hospital," he told TV 2 in an interview. "But now it was not possible to do anything more. I remember I said that we weren't going to go." He said the hardest moment had come when she asked if he would be there with her the next day, as he promised her every time she went to sleep. "She pointed to the sky and asked if she was going to go there tomorrow. I remember I said yes," he said. "Then she asked me immediately if I, her Dad, would come afterwards. It was what she wanted to know every time she fell asleep." Rebekka, who was 17 when she died, had been on a ventilation machine since her lungs ceased functioning six years ago. "She lived good days until around March or April," Lippestad said. "But then her kidneys began to fail. There was nothing we could do. By late May, we knew there were days, maybe weeks, left." Lippestad said he had prayed to God to give him the strength to be there for his wife and seven other children, so that they could manage to live life afterwards.
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Geir Lippestad, who led Breivik's defence team, was at his daughter Rebekka's side when she died on June 13 this year.
"She lay in her bed in her room. She woke up and looked at me and made the sign which means she wanted to go to the hospital," he told TV 2 in an interview. "But now it was not possible to do anything more. I remember I said that we weren't going to go."
He said the hardest moment had come when she asked if he would be there with her the next day, as he promised her every time she went to sleep.
"She pointed to the sky and asked if she was going to go there tomorrow. I remember I said yes," he said. "Then she asked me immediately if I, her Dad, would come afterwards. It was what she wanted to know every time she fell asleep."
Rebekka, who was 17 when she died, had been on a ventilation machine since her lungs ceased functioning six years ago.
"She lived good days until around March or April," Lippestad said. "But then her kidneys began to fail. There was nothing we could do. By late May, we knew there were days, maybe weeks, left."
Lippestad said he had prayed to God to give him the strength to be there for his wife and seven other children, so that they could manage to live life afterwards.
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