The case in summary: The trial against a man accused of abusing and tying up his 7-year-old son starts on Monday 12 February. The man risks up to 15 years in prison and a ban on contacting the boy. The case led to both the city council and the child welfare director in Bergen resigning in 2022 due to serious shortcomings in the follow-up from child welfare. The boy came to Norway via family reunification with his father in June 2022, and was found injured and tied to a bed in August of the same year. Over 30 people will testify in the trial, which will last six days. The accused man has previously pleaded not guilty. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. “Everyone hates you, no one can stand you and no one loves you.” The man in his 30s is said to have said that to his seven-year-old son, according to the indictment. Over the course of three weeks, he is said to have mistreated and violated the boy. Hits with the hand, hits with a belt, hits with an electric cable against bare skin in several places on the body. It is only some of what emerges from the indictment. On Monday 12 February, the trial starts in Hordaland district court. Assistance lawyer May Britt Løvik will ask for restitution and a permanent contact ban. – The case is almost indescribably painful. It is the worst abuse case I have had in my 20 years as a lawyer, says the assistant lawyer. She says that child protection has taken care of the boy, and that according to the relationship he is doing well. Assistance lawyer May Britt Løvik will ask that the man be granted a permanent contact ban against the zone. Photo: Jon Bolstad / news Slacken the follow-up to child welfare This is one of two cases that culminated in the child welfare scandal in Bergen in 2022: Inspection reports from the State Administrator showed that the follow-up from child welfare and Nav had serious shortcomings. Both the city council in Bergen and the director of child welfare resigned as a result. Several immediate measures and a package of measures were implemented to improve the routines in the municipality and ensure enough employees. The other case of a teenager who was malnourished is still under investigation. It has previously emerged that the accused man lived in Norway for several years before he got his son here via family reunification in June 2022. The father had sole care for the boy after he came to Norway. Mora lived abroad. A month after the boy arrived in Norway, the father was in contact with child protection. A few weeks later, on 7 August 2022, the son was found injured and tied to a bed in a flat in Bergen. The abuse was discovered after a private person alerted child welfare, which then sent a distress report to the police. The same evening, the police campaigned against the flat, according to BT. The injuries the boy sustained would have been life-threatening had he not been found and helped. Aid attorney Løvik is calling for a system to follow up children who come to Norway alone through family reunification. – If children come to Norway alone and are to live under the care of a parent they do not know, it should be a matter of course that child protection services and at least a health center are immediately contacted and are in contact with the child during the first weeks they are in Norway, says Løvik. Penalty frame of 15 years – This is a very serious case with an extensive investigation, says state prosecutor Asbjørn Onarheim to news. More than 30 people will testify during the six-day trial. Among them are experts, police investigators and crime technicians. The accused man has been in custody since he was arrested, to prevent him from escaping the country. Forensic psychiatric experts have had the accused assessed. The public prosecutor’s starting point is that the man is sane. Asbjørn Onarheim is the state prosecutor in the case. Photo: Paul Sigve Amundsen / NTB Nektar criminal liability The maximum penalty for serious child abuse is 15 years. According to the indictment, the state can ask for detention, confiscation of mobile phones and driving licences. – It is out of consideration for social security, safety in society in general, says Onarheim. The man is also charged with spitting and threatening a public servant, illegally storing and using drugs, and operating a pirate taxi. He was also charged with threats to kill and violence against a woman, but this will not be part of the trial, according to the public prosecutor. The defendant has previously pleaded not guilty. The defendant’s defense attorney, Ahmad Taha, does not want to comment on this or the case before the trial is underway. Ahmad Taha is defending the accused man. Photo: Jon Bolstad / news
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Can get 15 years in prison for abusing and tying a 7-year-old to a bed – news Vestland
