Four men in their 20s must appear in the district court in November, accused of having felled a tree over several roads in Kinn municipality. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. – The prosecution believes that serious personal injuries could easily have occurred. The case is very serious from the point of view of potential danger to life and health, says police attorney Marthe Karlsen. – A brutal episode A total of four men are accused. Three of these were arrested after they felled a tree over highway 5 between Førde and Florø just before Easter this year. A fourth defendant is said to have also been involved in a similar incident elsewhere in January. The incident at Knapstad in March this year could have gone very wrong. Here it is 80 zone. The friends Johanne Endestad, Sofie Vaardal and Rakel Hovland Øren were on their way home from a party when the car they were in failed to stop and drove straight into the tree. Soon after, a new car traveling in the opposite direction crashed into the tree. – It was scary and we ran to see if they were alive. It was a brutal episode, Hovland Øren told news after the incident. A third car drove off the road to avoid a collision. Two of the cars were not drivable after the incident. Several of the 11 people in the cars had to go to the emergency room. Get rid of clothes According to court documents news has seen, the men wanted to stop and disrupt traffic. From a slope close by, the perpetrators realized that the first car drove into the tree they felled over highway 5. According to the explanation of one of the people involved, they heard both howling and screaming as they ran away from the city. They got rid of the cloth and chainsaw, and returned a little later to the scene where the emergency services had also arrived. Even then they did not make themselves known until they left town. The men were arrested a few days later. They acknowledged everything. Bente Hermansen is defending one of the accused. – He apologizes and is very sorry for his contribution to the criminal acts, she says. One of the defenders does not wish to comment on the case, while one has not responded to news’s inquiries. – 80-zone as a playground The men have taken away their driver’s licences. The man Hermansen represents has been to court several times to try to get his driver’s license back. – My client acknowledges his guilt and the actual circumstances from the first contact with the police and looks forward to the case being finished, says defense counsel for the one defendant, Bente Hermansen DRAMATIC: Two cars drove into a tree that had been felled on national highway 5 between Førde and Florø. The courts are merciless in their depiction of the actions. The emergency services had to use already limited resources to move out, and contractors had to clear the road. “The accused used the roadway with an 80-zone as a playground and put other people at risk of death,” writes the Gulating Court of Appeal. The prosecution is in agreement with the Court of Appeal’s assessment of the cause of action, says police attorney Karlsen. Dødsulukke in Denmark The case in Kinn attracted a lot of attention in both national and Danish media. Just a few days earlier, a 55-year-old died in one of several similar cases in Denmark. In December, nine young men must answer for the misdeeds. Six of these have been charged with negligent homicide. Two men are also accused of not having helped the deceased, when they fled the city. Police attorney Karlsen says the police do not consider the incident in Kinn to be attempted murder. – The fact that an act can cause danger to life is not in itself enough to constitute attempted murder, she says. Published 30.10.2024, at 14.59 Updated 30.10.2024, at 15.13
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