On 1 August last year, the married couple Herma Gjetsund (83) and Odd Gjetsund (88) were stabbed and killed in their own home in Otta. A man in his 40s is charged with the murders, and for abusing them after they died. On Thursday, the trial began against the man, who has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital since he was arrested. The plan was for him to explain himself to the court, but halfway through the prosecutor’s opening statement he left the court due to his health situation. Was transported away from the district court – It is as simple as his health situation having an effect. I cannot describe it in any other way, says the man’s defender, Anders Bjørnsen. He received signals from the defendant shortly before he left the courtroom, that he was about to have a reaction. – To me, he makes me aware that it will be worse to be him, Bjørnsen explains. The defendant admitted the facts in both charges when the trial started on Thursday, but not guilty due to his mental state. Read: – Meaningless that something like this could happen in Otta The defendant lived in the same area as the pensioners. Witnesses saw defendant bloody This afternoon, the defendant’s own statements to the police were played in court. Here he explained that early in the evening on 1 August, the defendant entered the apartment of the couple in their 80s. According to having been inside the apartment for three to four minutes. During this time he carried out the act of murder. On his way out of the couple’s apartment, the defendant was observed by witnesses at the scene. They reacted when they saw that the accused had blood on his clothes. In the first police interrogation of the defendant, the defendant told about the incident. – It happened to be the two of them. I rang a couple of other doors but no one opened, he said. He describes the act as “a cry for help”, because he had been trying for a long time to be admitted and get a place at Reinsvoll, which is a psychiatric hospital at Sykehuset Innlandet. Had thoughts he couldn’t control During the interrogation, he describes thoughts he had in the days before the act. Thoughts he couldn’t control himself. He also told the questioning that around five days before the murder, he felt he had to kill someone. – It was just telling. It was brewing and finally I decided to do it. When the defendant was back in his own apartment, he called the emergency services himself and told them that he had killed two people. According to witness statements, the defendant is said to have knocked on the doors of two other housing units on the site, before he finally entered the couple who were killed. Was called by the health team shortly before the murders During the introductory lecture, the prosecutor referred to a telephone conversation that the local psychiatric health service had with the defendant a few hours before the murders took place. The defendant had been in and out of psychiatric institutions for a long time prior to the murders, and had been closely monitored by the health team. Earlier in the evening, the defendant was called by the health team to follow him up, which they regularly did. During the conversation, the defendant said that things were going well, but that he had recently felt a lot of anxiety. According to the prosecutor, the healthcare system did not react to anything special about the content of the telephone conversation. Prosecutor Torbjørn Klundseter, left, and defense attorney Anders Bjørnsen. Photo: Anders Bakkerud Larsen / news Wanted a place in a psychiatric hospital The month before the murders, the defendant told health personnel at the local medical center that he has commanding thoughts. Thoughts that say he will hurt women and himself. He himself expressed a desire to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. A few days later he got a place at DPS Lillehammer. The defendant stayed there for ten days before being discharged. The timeline presented during the opening statement shows frequent contact between the accused and the psychiatric health team in the months and days before the murder. Left court – taken back to hospital Midway through the prosecutor’s opening statement, the defendant had to leave the courtroom. The reason was his mental health, and he was taken back to a psychiatric hospital. The defendant’s doctor said that the man’s health in his 40s made it impossible for him to be present in court. After a round between the parties in court, they concluded that the accused will not explain himself as planned on Thursday. The case will nevertheless continue as planned. Explains about the day the parents were killed The daughter of the two killed began her testimony after lunch on Thursday. Clearly marked throughout his explanation. She describes a warm and fine summer’s day, when reports of a stabbing in Otta appeared. She tried to call her parents, but got no answer. She contacted the mother’s friend, who lived in the same housing association as the parents, and asked her to go to the parents to call her daughter. She became a little uneasy, and got into the car on the way to Otta with her husband. She repeatedly tried to contact her parents, but could not get through to them on the phone. When she was in the car, she saw on several online newspapers that two people had been killed, with a picture of the housing complex the parents lived in. After a while, a priest calls and delivers the news of death. The state administrator in Innlandet has previously assessed whether the man received proper follow-up from Sykehuset Innlandet HF and Sel municipality. They have also assessed whether the interaction between them has been sound. Criticizes report from the State Administrator The State Administrator has concluded that there has been no breach of health legislation – health care was provided “in line with good practice”. The daughter thinks this is incomprehensible. In her explanation, she harshly criticizes the report. The daughter reacts to the fact that no fault was found in the way the defendant was followed up, even though he said he had thoughts of carrying out actions that he did against the couple. When asked by the legal aid attorney if she will ever be able to come to terms with what has happened, she replies that she does not know. She believes it is difficult to do so as long as such incidents can happen again, and as long as she does not feel that the healthcare system is competent enough to catch such people before they carry out such horrific acts. The son, who explained himself after his sister, also harshly criticizes the report. – The report leaves an impression that the State Administrator is trying to exonerate himself. It is important to know that in the weeks and days before, the defendant had contact with the health specialist service, had asked to be hospitalized, and had a grudge against women. For me, this is painful to read when I know what happened afterwards, explained the son. He draws parallels with the murders in Kongsberg, where another mentally ill person committed murder. – It is disturbing that mentally ill people must commit murder before they receive the necessary health care. – Senseless and random murders – We consider it to be the case that the danger of new serious offenses that endanger the lives and health of others is great, says the prosecutor, state attorney Thorbjørn Klundseter. He tells news that the murders appear to be “meaningless” and “random”. The prosecution believes the man was insane at the time of the act due to a strongly deviant state of mind. He cannot therefore be sentenced to prison. During the trial, a request will be made for a judgment on transfer to compulsory mental health care. This is a so-called special reaction that the judiciary can give to people who have committed serious, criminal acts of violence, but who are seriously mentally ill. THE SCENE: Investigators from the police at the crime scene in Otta in Sel municipality on 1 August 2022. Photo: Runar Henriksen Jørstad / news – This is a man who is sick After the murders, the man called the police himself. He has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital ever since his arrest. He has no previous criminal convictions. Defense attorney Anders Gustav Bjørnsen says that his client has a long history in psychiatry. – This is a man who is ill, in short. And it is the disease alone that is the cause of this happening, says Bjørnsen. The defender calls the case a tragedy.
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An elderly couple was stabbed to death in Otta in Gudbrandsdalen by a mentally ill neighbor – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
