– There is absolutely no doubt that the defendant is guilty, opened prosecutor Lillian Anderson Kleppe in her proceedings in Hordaland district court on Tuesday. A 28-year-old man is accused of raping three girls and sexual acts against five other girls. The man worked as an assistant at SFO at two schools in Bergen. – The defendant has taken advantage of his position as an employee in the after-school program and has taken advantage of young children’s trust and dependence on him to carry out repeated sexual assaults, prosecutor Kleppe argued. The defendant appeared in court in a white, striped shirt and with a bottle of Coca-Cola. During Kleppe’s procedure, he had his eyes fixed on the table and took notes with a ballpoint pen in a writing pad. Demand prison for nine years The abuse case became known to the police when three girls went to the health nurse at the school and told what they had experienced. Then their class had seen an episode about abuse on news’s program “Supernytt”. In court, a video was played of the interrogation of the girls at the Orphanage. Several of them said that they were subjected to repeated rape and abuse. – It happened so many times that I can’t count them, said one of the girls. In her proceedings, prosecutor Lillian Anderson Kleppe said that it has been difficult to find comparable cases in the legal system in Norway. For the three counts of rape, Kleppe believes that eight years’ imprisonment is the correct level of punishment. But in addition, the man is accused of sexual acts against five more girls. – After an overall assessment, I believe that the defendant must be sentenced to nine years in prison, Kleppe concluded. The defender will make his closing arguments later today. ASSISTANCE LAWYERS: (from left) Mari Brügger Villanger, Morten Kjensli and May Britt Løvik represent the offended and their parents in court. Photo: Synne Lykkebø Hafsaas / news Denies criminal liability In court, the man has admitted to touching the children, but he denies criminal liability. – I have cuddled and stroked them on the back. They sat on his lap in connection with arguing, laughing or when they fought, the man explained in court. The 28-year-old defendant has been in custody since he was arrested on 2 December 2021. Prosecutor Kleppe told the court on Tuesday that the defendant’s explanation in court is completely without credibility. – The day after he was arrested, he named six girls that he had assaulted. This was before the girls had been in trouble with the police, said Kleppe. – Credible explanations from the children In the first interviews with the police, the man also explained that he got “hot in the head, almost dizzy” when the children sat on his lap. In court, the defendant therefore went back on the explanations and confessions he gave to the police that time. – I had smoked weed. I was in shock and was totally taken aback, he said. – I think the court can completely ignore what the man has explained here in court, Kleppe countered today, before adding that the explanations given to the children are strong evidence. – They have given sober explanations to the police. They explain themselves in relative detail and have made detailed drawings about what happened and what they have experienced. Request for compensation Assistance lawyer May Britt Løvik asked for compensation in the amount of NOK 60,000 – 220,000 for the five girls she represents. They got scared, tried to get away and had a hard time afterwards, Løvik said. She argued before the court that one of the charges relating to sexual acts should be assessed by the court as to whether it qualifies as sexual intercourse. And for two other girls, she also believes that the court should consider an upward adjustment of the charges. She also attacked the defendant’s explanations in court, where he has said that he had no control over the children, who he believes “jump and ravage” him and that he was unable to set boundaries. – His explanation in court is beyond all reason. It is adults who are responsible for avoiding ending up in situations that can be misunderstood. My impression is that he blames the children for what has happened. That he does not acknowledge and apologize here in court adds a stone to the burden for the children and their parents, said Løvik. Upgraded charges The eight offended girls were between the ages of 6 and 8 when the abuse allegedly took place. The man was initially prosecuted under sections 299 and 304 of the Criminal Code. But for one of the offended parties, the charge has been upgraded after the trial started. There, the man is now charged with aggravated rape of a child under the age of 14, section 301 of the Criminal Code. Sections 299 and 304 of the Criminal Code Rape of children under the age of 14 is a separate section in the Criminal Code (299) and applies to offenses that deal with: a) having sexual relations with children under the age of 14 b) getting a child under the age of 14 to perform acts that correspond to sexual intercourse with oneself, or c) carries out qualified sexual acts with children under the age of 14. The sentence is ten years in prison. Paragraph 304 applies to sexual acts against children under the age of 16, which can be punished with three years’ imprisonment if the relationship is not covered by paragraph 299.
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Demand a prison sentence for an after-school assistant accused of assault – news Vestland
