Two years and three months ago, the police received a report that a man was shooting with a bow and arrow at a grocery store in Kongsberg. Espen Andersen Bråthen (40) killed four women and one man during the dramatic Wednesday evening. All were accidental victims. On 24 June 2022, he was sentenced to compulsory mental health care. Today, Bråthen is trying his case before the district court in Kongsberg, after having lived and been treated at a psychiatric institution since the verdict. – I am healthy and would like to be free now, Bråthen said in court on Tuesday. Still delusions Treating senior doctor Live Sanderud does not agree: – He still has psychotic symptoms and delusions, despite the medication. State attorney Andreas Christiansen believes that Bråthen must still be in compulsory mental health care. Photo: Jan-Erik Wilthil / news Psychiatrists Harald Brauer and Helge Haugerud have been appointed as experts in court. Their conclusion is that Bråthen still meets the requirements for paranoid schizophrenia. – We consider the risk of violence to be elevated if there is a breach of the plan and the follow-up he is receiving today. In the opposite case, the risk of violence is low if he is still kept in compulsory mental health care. Haugerud believes that the psychosis is still there, despite the medication, but that it is subdued and slightly different than on the night of the murder and immediately afterwards. – But within a few weeks it could change, and get worse, if he doesn’t get the same treatment, he said. – Low level of functioning The prosecution believes that Bråthen should still be treated and argues against a release. What is compulsory mental health care In order to be punished (prison or detention), an offender must be sane at the time of the act. The offender is not sane if, at the time of the act, he is psychotic, mentally retarded to a high degree, or has a severe disturbance of consciousness. When it is considered necessary to protect the life, health or freedom of others, an offender who has been punished can be transferred to compulsory mental health care through a sentence. The condition is that the person concerned has committed or attempted to commit a violent offence, a sexual offence, a deprivation of liberty, an arson attack or another offense which violated the life, health or freedom of others. Source: Sections 20 and 62 of the Criminal Code. A year ago, a report stated that Bråthen did not receive a good enough follow-up in the health care system before the murders. He was ill for a long time, and in court it emerged that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. State prosecutor Andreas Christiansen began on Tuesday by going through each individual murder in detail. Espen Andersen Bråthen was wearing a white shirt, black trousers and white trainers, and mostly looked down at his desk. Live Sanderud at Blakstad, where Bråthen is in a closed and 24-hour security department, believes the mass murderer needs both continued medication – as well as other follow-up. – Bråthen’s functional level is consistently low, and the environmental staff have to make a big effort to ensure that he can maintain daily things such as brushing his teeth and washing. Bråthen eats communal dinners with the other patients, but is not very social. The report states that his cognitive functions are impaired. – I would like to be free now – Compulsory mental health care can only be maintained if the conditions for risk of recurrence are met. He himself believes that the conditions are no longer present, says Bråthen’s defender, Fredrik Neumann. Defender Fredrik Neumann asks the court to decide whether there is a danger of imminent violent acts. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Bråthen himself said in court that he regrets the murders. – It should never have happened, said the 40-year-old – How are your days? asked district court judge Liv Synnøve Taraldsrud. – I read a lot of books and then I watch films in the evening. – If you are released, what do you think about your situation going forward? – Get me a job, a wife and children, and be with my family. Bråthen says that he can imagine making clothes, bags, sacks or docks if he gets out. – Or become a carpenter or chef. Or become an engineer and build skyscrapers. But I haven’t gone to school that much, so I have to take up some subjects again, Bråthen said. The public prosecutor asked if he might kill again. – No, I don’t want to kill. I have no reason to kill, replied Bråthen, and maintained that he is not afraid that those thoughts may return again. Was “increased risk” During the trial in 2022, Bråthen said that the urge to kill was triggered by the fact that he had had pain behind his eyes for several months, which made him afraid of going blind. Bråthen was convinced that he had to kill to be born again. Just over two years later, Bråthen says that he is no longer afraid of going blind, and that he is therefore not going to kill again. These are the Kongsberg murders. On 13 October 2021, five people were killed and three injured when Espen Andersen Bråthen attacked random people with a knife and a bow and arrow in Kongsberg. Bråthen started the attacks in Coop Extra where he shot at employees, customers and the police with a bow and arrow. He got out before the police managed to arrest him, and then went to Hyttegata where he entered the homes of the residents and killed those he met with a knife. Bråthen was arrested 37 minutes after the first reports about the incident came. Three experts concluded that Bråthen had a strongly deviant state of mind on the evening when he carried out the attack. Bråthen has a long history of mental illness. In 2007, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, where psychosis is a prominent feature. The forensic psychiatrists who have assessed Bråthen believe that he still has the diagnosis, and that it is chronic. In April 2022, Bråthen was charged with five murders, eleven attempted murders, 13 cases of serious threats and one case of attempted bodily harm. He was also charged with several other matters, including throwing a knife at three police officers. Bråthen pleaded guilty to the entire charge when the case started in Buskerud district court in Hokksund. He explained that the aim of the attack was to kill as many people as possible so that he himself would be reborn. Both the prosecution and the defense filed a claim that Bråthen must be sentenced to transfer to compulsory mental health care, which also happened when the verdict was handed down on 24 June 2022. Source: NTB When the case was heard in court in 2022, the experts concluded that Bråthen, aged 19 of 20 factors had an increased risk of new acts of violence. During the final proceedings, the prosecutor described the actions as one of the most serious incidents of violence in Norway in recent times. – No one could have predicted what happened. This was a killer looking for human life. He caused many people to fear death, said state attorney Andreas Christiansen. State prosecutor Vibeke Gjøslien Martins referred to the psychiatric experts, who believe that there was a risk of recurrence, and that Bråthen had a chronic mental disorder with a poor prognosis. The experts believe that there is still a risk of acts of violence, if he does not continue to receive treatment as he does today. If he is released, further follow-up will be entirely voluntary. A verdict is expected during the week.
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Espen Andersen Bråthen killed five people – claims he is now healthy – news Buskerud – Local news, TV and radio
