– This should never have been paid, says one of the cousin’s lawyers, Arvid Sjødin. In February, Johny Vassbakk was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the murder of Birgitte Tengs in 1995. The case has been appealed, and is scheduled for the Gulating Court of Appeal in September. But in a ruling in the Ryfylke trial court from 2002, which has not previously been known in the media, it emerges that Vassbakk has been awarded damages in the same case. According to the ruling from 2002, he was “unexcusedly brought into a case which has received considerable media coverage”. All because of a 22-page long report police secretary Grete Strømme delivered in 1996. There she pointed to Vassbakk as a mode candidate. NOK 7,150 in damages Lawyer John Christian Elden assisted Vassbakk at the time. Afterwards, he submitted a compensation claim on behalf of Vassbakk. In it, Vassbakk demanded compensation for legal assistance in connection with the case in 2002. Lawyer John Christian Elden. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news He was awarded NOK 7,150 in compensation. Today, Elden estimates that this amounted to three hours of legal assistance between 1998 and 2002. A special rule in the Criminal Procedure Act means that someone who is dragged into or exposed to an investigation can receive compensation for expenses in that connection. – That is what has happened in this case, says associate professor of jurisprudence at the University of Stavanger, Ola Johan Settem to news. He points out that there are many years between compensation and the conviction. – It appears special today, but it is a decision based on what the judge in question had grounds for saying something at the time, he says. Associate professor at UiS, Ola Johan Settem. Photo: Syed Ali Shahbaz Akhtar / news May have to pay back the claim According to the same Criminal Procedure Act, the ministry can claim back such compensation if the case is later reopened and the accused is convicted. – There is a legal basis for demanding that the compensation sum be repaid if it turns out that the person who has received a compensation should nevertheless not be entitled to it, writes head of communications in the Norwegian Civil Justice Administration, Kristian Stakset-Gundersen, in an e-mail to news. Vassbakk, he was questioned by the police in the Tengs case in 1995 and 1996. In 1997, however, the cousin of Birgitte Tengs was convicted of the murder in the district court. He was later acquitted in the Court of Appeal, but the compensation claim in the civil case was upheld until November last year. Shortly after the cousin was acquitted, Strømme was charged with breach of confidentiality in connection with submitting the report. It wasn’t until three years later that her case was tried in court. Strømme was acquitted. Sjødin believes that the compensation claim from Vassbakk was submitted far too late. – I have also never been informed that he has received compensation, says Sjødin. Arvid Sjødin has been Birgitte Teng’s cousin’s lawyer for 25 years. Photo: Mathias Oppedal / news Lawyer John Christian Elden clarifies that Vassbakk was never a suspect in the late 90s, and elaborates: – Investigative steps were taken to disprove the suspicion others had put forward, says Elden. Elden has been legal counsel for the parents of Birgitte Tengs since 1999. The assignment for Vassbakk took place at the very beginning of the period that has passed since then. Elden had to decline to be Vassbakk’s defender when he was arrested and charged with the murder of Birgitte Tengs on 1 September 2021. – When he became a suspect in the case in 2021, I could not help him, as I was the attorney assisting the parents in the murder case. They wanted me to continue, says Elden. Raised objection to competence Lawyer Arvid Sjødin reacts to the fact that in 2002 Elden assisted Johny Vassbakk at the same time as he was an assistant attorney for Birgitte Tengs’ parents. In 2009, Agder opened the Court of Appeal so that the compensation case against the cousin could be resumed. But according to Sjødin, Elden appealed this to the Supreme Court. There, the compensation case was rejected. – There is a problem. What was his motive for appealing his cousin’s reopening? Was it to look after Vassbakk or to look after the next of kin? says Sjødin. Lawyer John Christian Elden states that he worked for Karin and Torger Tengs. – The appeal from Birgitte’s parents was based on the fact that the Court of Appeal applied the law incorrectly. The Supreme Court agreed, says Elden. According to state attorney Thale Thomseth, the prosecution was aware that Elden had previously represented the defendant in the Tengs case when the trial started in the autumn. Public prosecutor Thale Thomseth was the prosecutor in the trial against Johny Vassbakk this autumn. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news – Questions were raised about objections to competence by the defenders during the case preparations. It is the court that appoints a legal aid attorney. We relate to that. We have no comments beyond that, she says. Lawyer Stian Kristensen is one of Johny Vassbakk’s defenders. – The objection of competence was one of several topics during the case preparations. After this, Elden’s competence has not been an issue, says Kristensen. Johny Vassbakk’s lawyer responded that John Christian Elden was a legal aid lawyer for the parents of Birgitte Tengs. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news Nor does he have any comments beyond that. According to Elden, nothing ever came of the objection of competence itself. He refers to the minutes from the case preparation meeting on 12 September 2022: “Advocate Elden believed that the assistance to the defendant was limited and that he has been in as an assistant attorney for a long time and that he did not consider it problematic to continue as an assistant attorney. The prosecution has no objections. The defenders stated that they will not formally make an objection, but draw attention to the fact that the defendant is reacting” Elden thus assisted Karin and Torger Tengs during the trial against Vassbakk in November and December 2022, together with lawyer Erik Lea. Was involved in a parallel investigation At the same time that Vassbakk was awarded compensation in 2002, a new investigation was also underway in connection with the Tengs case. The investigation was led by police attorney Thor Buberg at Haugesund police station. In 2002, the police summoned 43 people to take DNA samples from the mucous membranes on the inside of their cheeks. One of these was Vassbakk. These were checked against five unidentified strands of hair that were found on Birgitte Tengs, including one that was found in her hand. On 12 December 2002, the police published the result. In an interview with news, Buberg confirmed that none of the samples came back with a DNA match. 17 years later, new DNA research yielded hits on Vassbakk’s profile, when a Y chromosome from his paternal family was found on Birgitte Teng’s pantyhose. Further investigations showed that the Y chromosome had a mutation that excluded other male relatives.
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Johny Vassbakk has previously received compensation for the murder of Birgitte Tengs – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
