At a press conference on 16 October 1994 – after just one day’s investigation – police chief Per Marum named three little boys aged four, five and six as responsible for Silje Marie Redergård’s death. The following day, the mother of the four-year-old gave an explanation to the police which piqued the interest of interrogation expert Asbjørn Rachlew. Her son had told her that an older boy had been present when Silje was mistreated. And that the boy had a bicycle and behaved threateningly towards the four-year-old. But the boy with the bicycle was never questioned in 1994. Rachlew discovered this when he investigated the Silje case in autumn 2021 on behalf of the public prosecutor. – The four-year-old had told about a bigger boy with a bicycle. So I understood that this was extremely important, said Rachlew in Brennpunkt’s documentary series “Murder in the toboggan run”. Interrogation expert Asbjørn Rachlew has reacted to the fact that the police did not question the nine-year-old with a bicycle in 1994. Photo: Svend Even Hærra / news – A key witness In the series, Rachlew criticized the police for not having questioned what he believed to be “a key witness”. At the time, the four-year-old gave the first name of the boy he had seen to his mother, according to police documents from 1994. Based on his investigation, Rachlew has identified the boy he believes fits the four-year-old’s description as a boy who was 9 years old in 1994 and lived in the neighborhood. Now it turns out that the police have not this time questioned the central witness in the new investigation into the Silje case, which the public prosecutor ordered in December 2021. Rachlew wants to await any comments on this until the public prosecutor’s decision is made public on Friday 17 February. Sigurd Klomsæt, the lawyer for the 6-year-old in the Silje case, reacts strongly to the fact that the police have not questioned the boy with a bicycle. Fear of the decision – This is incomprehensible. Rachlew was very clear in his work on the Silje case about what he thinks about the importance of this witness to the case, says Klomsæt. Lawyer Sigurd Klomsæt. Photo: Ole Jørgen Kolstadbråten / news He believes that in this way the police have neglected “to inform the case”. The lawyer fears that this could lead to the state prosecutor upholding the decision that it was the three little boys who were to blame for Silje’s death. Mette Kollstrøm, the prosecutor in the new investigation into the Silje case, writes in an e-mail that the boy with the bicycle has not been questioned “due to witness information from 1994 which indicates that he was not present at the time of the incident”. However, the police documents from 1994 show that, as far as news can see, it is only the boy’s mother who gives him an alibi. According to her, her son and his sister were at home on the fateful day until Silje was found dead. But at the same time, she says that she was in the shop and shopped for around an hour in the period in question, while the children were at home alone. Not questioned The only other testimony about the boy with the bicycle in 1994 is another woman who says that her son played with him in the afternoon. Silje Marie Redergård was five years old when she was found murdered in 1994. Photo: Privat / news When asked by the police if it is the case that it is this witness information from 1994 which indicates that the boy was not present at the time of the incident – and which means that he was not called in for questioning in the new investigation – Eli Aasland, head of prosecution in Trøndelag police district, answers the following: – Based on several witness statements from 1994, the police believe that the person you are asking about and the four-year-old did not meet on the day before Silje was found dead. The police will not answer which witness information makes them believe that there is no need to question the boy with the bicycle, who is currently in his late 30s. Brennpunkt has spoken to the man. He confirms that he has not been questioned in the case. At the same time, he says that the four-year-old’s explanation to his mother in 1994 is wrong; he was not present when Silje was mistreated.
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Key witness in the Silje case not questioned – news Dokumentar
