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Killer who served 25 years refused release

NTB/The Local
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Killer who served 25 years refused release
Photo: Hands of the prisoner on a steel lattice close up. Shutterstock"

A Norwegian man, who killed his family over 27 years ago and has been imprisoned since 1989, is not to be granted his freedom, the Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday.

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The 47-year-old Norwegian, who in 1987 killed his father, mother, sister and her co-dependant in Fusa, Hordaland, will remain in custody under permanent mental health treatment, Gulating Court of Appeal in Bergen decided.

In April of this year, Nordhordland district court sentenced the man to mental health care under imprisonment for three more years beyond his original sentence. The man appealed, but the court rejected the appeal on Thursday, reported Bergensavisen.

The sentence stated: “The district court has concluded that there is reason to fear that [the man known as] "NN", if he is admitted to voluntary psychological health protection, will stray from the treatment offered by the hospital.”
 
In 1989 the then 22-year-old man was sentenced to ten years in jail for the murders of four of his family members on the night of May 1st. The four were killed by three different weapons. The motive for the murders was never discovered.
 
The man escaped several times from hospital. In 1989 he was admitted to Trøndelag psychiatric hospital, Brøset division, having previously escaped three times from Valen hospital in Kvinnherad.
 
He escaped again in December after a visit to the cinema. He drew a knife, stole a car by threatening the driver, bought a shot gun and drove to Klæbu where he behaved in a very threatening manner towards a local family. After a five hour long operation, police managed to talk the 23-year-old into surrendering.
 
In 2003 "NN" was transferred to detained mental health protection, and a sentence that would be later increased by several courts. Involuntary commitment can be prolonged every three years.
 
Today, the man resides in a psychiatric institution in  central Norway. According to psychiatrists he is dependent upon being watched closely by nurses and has to take medication in order to prevent new psychotic outbreaks.
 
The 47-year-old is likely the longest serving prisoner in Norway to have been held by involuntary commitment.

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