In several interrogations in the first years after Birgitte Tengs was killed, Johny Vassbakk told a small extent that he picked up hitchhikers along the road when he was out driving on Karmøy and in the Haugesund area. But in questioning in the summer of 2022, after he was given access to the documents, Vassbakk, on the other hand, said that in the 1990s he picked up at least 50 hitchhikers in Haugesund and Karmøy. – Afraid of being suspected? – Why did you change your explanations so much? Was it risky for you to tell about hitchhikers in the interrogations just after the murder? Were you afraid of being suspected of having killed Birgitte, asked police prosecutor Unni Byberg Malmin during Vassbakk’s testimony in the Court of Appeal on Monday morning. The prosecution consists of police prosecutor Unni Byberg Malmin, left, and state prosecutors Thale Thomseth and Nina Grande. In court, they confront Johny Vassbakk with what they believe are changes in his explanations from the 1990s to today. Photo: Gunnar Morsund / news – This is about me starting to think more clearly in prison last year. I had time to remember. Also, I wasn’t asked much about hitchhikers in the interviews in the 1990s. The interrogations were primarily about the day Birgitte was killed, Vassbakk replied. – Today, when I am once again mentally tired, it is difficult to remember all this clearly again, he added. The Birgitte case Johny Vassbakk is accused of having killed Birgitte Tengs in Karmøy on the night of 6 May 1995. In the Haugaland and Sunnhordland District Court, Vassbakk was sentenced to 17 years in prison on 6 February. He has always denied criminal guilt. Currently, the appeal process is ongoing in the Gulating Court of Appeal in Stavanger. The case will end as planned with proceedings on 19 and 20 October. The prosecution believes that Vassbakk, after being given access to documents, realized that he could no longer distance himself from the fact that he picked up hitchhikers. In their opinion, he is trying to construct a credible explanation for how his DNA was found on Birgitte. Johny Vassbakk says that he picked up a girl who looked like Birgitte Tengs in April 1995, a few weeks before the murder. In court on Monday, police prosecutor Unni Byberg Malmin brought up an interview from June 2022. Then Vassbakk mentioned for the first time a hitchhiker whom he picked up near Bygnes just north of Kopervik in April 1995. Vassbakk has given a description of this hitchhiker that could fit with Birgitte Connect. – I was going to Haugesund, and I picked up a hitchhiker who was wearing light-colored clothes, a hood over his head, a light-colored skirt and black tights. She had blonde hair sticking out of her hood, I’m guessing she was around 16. – You came up with this after reading case documents for several months. Did you think that Birgitte’s clothing could be relevant to be aware of, Byberg Malmin asked in court? Vassbakk answered this in the negative. Highlighted several episodes Before lunch, the prosecutor’s office began to touch on a number of episodes for which Vassbakk has previously been convicted. The first is about an assault that Vassbakk made against a woman in 1986, when he was 16 years old. He followed the woman, and hit her hard in the head with a bicycle pump. Vassbakk has explained that he was in a kind of trance, but that he suddenly came to himself. In court today, Vassbakk remembered few details from the assault. – Were you sexually aroused during this assault, asked public prosecutor Thale Thomseth. – I don’t think so, replied Vassbakk. Johny Vassbakk remembers some episodes from the 1990s very well in court, but he has trouble remembering others. Photo: Private The prosecutor continued with an incident from 1990 when Vassbakk was 20 years old. He then approached a neighboring girl and asked if she could masturbate him. In court, Vassbakk seemed uncomfortable talking about this in court. He mostly referred to previous police statements. Prosecutor Thale Thomseth was not satisfied, and continued to drill in Vassbakk. – Do you think she was scared? – She was angry and asked me to go home. What I did was inappropriate, said Vassbakk. Remembered more from the psychologist attack A third episode that the prosecution wanted documented in court this morning was when Johny Vassbakk went home to his psychologist in 1991. Vassbakk remembered this more in court than the two previously mentioned assaults. He explained how he entered the flat, sat in her room and masturbated, then tightened a cord around her neck when she asked him to leave the flat. Snora smoked before the psychologist lost consciousness. – Do you remember if you lost control, asked the public prosecutor. – No, that’s exactly what I can’t make up for today, answered Vassbakk. – Why did you put the string around her neck. – I wanted to scare her. – Were you afraid that she would report you? – Yes.
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The prosecutor believes Johny Vassbakk has adapted his explanations – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
