Former doctor and parliamentary representative Olav Gunnar Ballo was for a period in 2010 director of the Forensic Medicine Institute (RMI). It is the institute that presented the DNA evidence in the Baneheia case. Ballo is critical of how DNA traces were treated. – The Institute of Forensic Medicine has clearly failed to do the job expected, he says. Ballo believes that two serious mistakes were made by RMI: The DNA material that showed two perpetrators The Re-recording Commission must have been misinformed about DNA samples This is the Baneheia case * Stine Sofie Sørstrønen (8) and Lena Sløgedal Paulsen (10) were raped and killed in Baneheia in Kristiansand on 19 May 2000. They were found two days later. * Viggo Kristiansen and Jan Helge Andersen were sentenced respectively to 21 years’ detention (10 years’ minimum) and 19 years’ imprisonment for the rape and murder of the two girls. * Andersen confessed – Kristiansen has always claimed that he is innocent * The commission for resumption of criminal cases had the case on its table for the seventh time in the summer of 2017. * In February 2021, the commission decided that Viggo Kristiansen will have a new trial of the criminal case. * On Friday 21 October, Attorney General Jørn Maurud decided that he will go to the Court of Appeal with a message that Viggo Kristiansen should be acquitted of the murders and assaults for which he was convicted. The first error The first error concerns the production of the DNA material. Ballo believes that the findings were presented in a way that pointed to two perpetrators. He says to Politiforum that the presentation of the findings would be more than what is correct. – The material did not provide a basis for such a conclusion. In addition, the voice of so many people could be found, that it had no probative value against Viggo Kristiansen, says Ballo. Ballo believes that it is a sign that the institute did not have good enough routines and controls. – I would also like to say that there was no external environment to control, so that things could be tested. The second mistake The second big mistake is that the resumption commission should have been misinformed in 2009. It was the first time Viggo Kristiansen tried to get his case taken up by the commission. Then the Institute of Forensic Medicine was asked if they had more material from Baneheia. Former chief engineer at the section for biological traces at RMI Bente Mevåg answered verbally that the samples had been destroyed. It didn’t match. When Ballo was director in 2010, the institute found 199 test tubes in a freezer. – It has been analyzed, and was decisive for the acquittal that has now come. Forensic technicians from Kripos work at the scene after the double murder in Baneheia on 19 May 2000. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB How could this happen? – I think it could happen because you don’t check enough. One relied on something the other believed or took for granted. But without a purely physical control. This had a lot to say for the case, Ballo believes. – If you could have carried out reanalyses at an earlier time, and preferably in places other than at RMI, you would perhaps have drawn the conclusion many years ago that there was no heritage material from that place that matched Kristiansen. news has been in contact with former chief engineer Bente Mevåg, who does not wish to comment. Clinical pharmacologist and assistant head of what is today called the “Department of Forensic Medicine” at OUS, Liliana Bachs tells news that she has no basis to comment on 20-year-old oral statements. – Regarding what was said in court, the resumption commission has gone through this thoroughly, and we refer to their report from 18 February 2021, she says to news. DNAThe Spanish laboratory notes the conclusions about the findings of traces that could be connected to Viggo Kristiansen, which are close to insignificant or neutral carry out a new analysis on a DNA residue from 2000. They maintain that there are DNA traces from two men. The Institute of Forensic Medicine is asked if they have more material from Baneheia. Bente Mevåg answers verbally that the samples have been destroyed. Olav Gunnar Ballo finds 199 samples from Baneheia The re-examination commission concludes that new DNA analyzes do not contribute to weakening the evidence against Viggo Kristiansen, and the case is thus not reopened Viggo Kristiansen’s case is reopened. The commission believes, among other things, that the DNA evidence is weakened Show more – Can’t be compared with today Bach says that the demand 20 years ago can’t be compared with today. – Then society was in a different place than it is now, says Bachs. A lot has changed within forensic medicine. Both when it comes to the role as an expert, requirements for quality assurance of materials and samples, and control of personal information. – For example, we have been accredited. Which means that we get internal and external control of how we handle samples. We have to follow many procedures. So that when there is a control, they know how we do all the investigations. Liliana Bachs says that the quality control has become much better. Illustration: Lise Åserud / NTB This also applies to throwing away samples. – Today we have specific rules as to whether we should throw away or keep samples. For many years, the rules were not as clear. There have also been clearer agreements between those involved in the analysis of the samples and the legal apparatus. This has made it much easier to do things correctly, explains Bachs. – Quality control has increased a lot. The tests were important On Friday, Attorney General Jørn Sigurd Maurud said that there is no evidence against Viggo Kristiansen, and asked that he be acquitted. Viggo Kristiansen’s lawyer, Arvid Sjødin, tells news that these 199 samples are important, and that they underline that Kristiansen was not at the scene. – If we can go back again, and think that it was the result in 2000, then Viggo would never have been arrested in my opinion. In June 2021, Viggo Kristiansen was released from prison after serving 21 years in prison. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB He has had contact with Kristiansen after the acquittal. Sjødin says Kristiansen is light and content. – Now he can concentrate on a future. It is important for him who has spent 21 years wrongly in prison, he concludes.
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Meiner Institute of Forensic Medicine made two big mistakes during the Baneheia case – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
