It is the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) that has carried out new analyzes of nine clippings from Birgitte Teng’s pantyhose. Forensic geneticist Arnoud Kal from NFI presented the results of the analyzes in the Gulating Court of Appeal on Wednesday. According to Kal, a match has been found that matches Vassbakk’s DNA profile in five of the nine samples. In two of the samples, a mixed profile has been revealed, in addition to Vassbakk. One belongs to an investigator who handled the pantyhose 21 years ago, while the other originates from a friend of Birgitte’s who she gave a hug the night before she was killed. The Birgitte case Johny Vassbakk is accused of having killed Birgitte Tengs in Karmøy on the night of 6 May 1995. In the Haugaland and Sunnhordland District Court, Vassbakk was sentenced to 17 years in prison on 6 February. He has always denied criminal guilt. Currently, the appeal process is ongoing in the Gulating Court of Appeal in Stavanger. The case will end as planned with proceedings on 19 and 20 October. In the district court, Vassbakk was largely convicted on the basis that a y-chromosome was found in a blood stain on Birgitte’s tights, which the judges believed belonged to Vassbakk. Here there were hits on 29 markers, which is considered a secure identification. Vassbakk has always denied having anything to do with the murder. In the new analyses, there are hits on fewer genetic markers, and therefore these analyzes have less evidentiary value, according to Arnoud Kal. – In the absence of a mathematical model that can evaluate these findings, my conclusion is that the new analyzes neither support nor weaken the prosecution’s hypothesis that the defendant was at the scene, Kal said in the testimony. The Y chromosome is special because it is inherited virtually unchanged from father to son for generations. It will basically not be able to identify a single individual with certainty. However, Arnoud Kal has previously demonstrated a rare mutation in Vassbakk’s y-profile. This was by far a prerequisite for him to be sentenced in the district court. Started with 65 clippings In the new analyses, the institute in the Netherlands first cut out 65 pieces from Birgitte’s pantyhose, mostly from a section around the left thigh and knee. It was then decided to proceed with nine of the clippings where there were indications of the discovery of male DNA. – In these nine pieces, small amounts of male DNA were found, which only gave partial Y-chromosomal DNA profiles, Arnoud Kal said in the witness box. Comparison tests were carried out from Vassbakk, his two brothers, 39 other men, among them modus candidates from the murder case, as well as four out of seven male employees at NFI. In order to be characterized as a “match”, the institute’s criterion was that at least two out of four repeated tests gave an identification. Expectation of contact Kal said that the institute selected analysis areas on the pantyhose based on expectations of where a perpetrator could have been in contact with Birgitte, for example when the person pulled down her pantyhose and panties. It was this spring, after the district court judgment against Vassbakk had been handed down, that more than 60 new samples from Birgitte Teng’s pantyhose were sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute in the Netherlands, NFI. The prosecution, which consists of police prosecutor Unni Byberg Malmin, left, and state prosecutors Thale Thomseth and Nina Grande, asked for more DNA analyzes after the district court verdict this spring. Photo: Gunnar Morsund / news Prosecutor Nina Grande was able to state in court that half of the extracts have now been used up in the new analyses. In consultation with the defenders, it has been decided not to send the rest of the extract to other institutes, but rather to store the rest. The hope is that one day in the future you can get even more out of the remaining samples. Some preliminary analyzes were presented in the prosecutor’s introductory speech three weeks ago.
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Found small amounts of DNA from Johny Vassbakk in five new samples – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
