– I met him on the street last Friday and recognized him straight away. It was eerie. I think it’s strange that the system is such that they come out again after three months, says one of the 14 victims. On August 16, he was certain to be shot in the back. A man in his 30s threatened and hit a number of people with a gas pistol in Skjoldavegen in Haugesund. Four people were injured, one was taken to hospital and three to emergency room. A few days ago, the perpetrator was released from one of the health institutions he has been in since his arrest. news has been contacted by several people who react to the fact that they saw the man walking freely in Haugesund at the weekend. Charged with a gun On Wednesday in August, he and a colleague were on their way home from work when they struck up a conversation at a crossroads. The man in his 30s crossed the street towards them with one hand in his pocket. – When he was two meters from me, he picked up a gun and pointed it at my chest. The victim threw himself to the side, the colleague raised a bicycle between the two. This is the man charged with According to the police, the man in his 30s is charged with: Several cases of threats Several cases of bodily harm Bodily injury Reckless behavior Theft (of a car) Driving without a valid driver’s license Driving under the influence/drunk state – Then he tried to hit me in the head with the butt of the gun, but hit me in the shoulder and lost the gun. Then we ran, he says. Then they did not know that the man was carrying a gas pistol, and as they ran up the hill he was waiting for shots. One of the 14 victims brags about the health care he has received via Haugesund municipality after the incident. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news – I was sure I was going to get a bullet in the back, but he turned and went on, he describes. – Has it scared you? – I have become more skeptical and pay attention to the people around me when I am in the city. – No grounds for imprisonment – It is true that the accused was released from a health institution just before the weekend. We believe it is not right to ask for him to be remanded in custody, says police attorney Louise Størksen Førre in the Sør-West police district. Police attorney Louise Størksen Førre. Photo: Gisle Jørgensen / news The police base this on the conclusions of the forensic psychiatric experts and reports from the healthcare system. Based on these reports, he is too ill to be transferred to a prison. According to the police attorney, the investigation is almost over. The case will probably be forwarded to the state attorney during the week. – Unreasonable, believes the defender The man’s defender, lawyer Silje Hellesen, says that the client has received follow-up from the healthcare system since the incident, and that he is still closely monitored by healthcare personnel. – He has no recollection of the events, but is very distressed by the suffering and insecurity he caused innocent people who were in the area on the day this happened, she says. Defender Silje Hellesen. Photo: Grethe Nygaard Hellesen has read the forensic psychiatric statement. Her assessment is that the client was not criminally sane at the time of the crime. – Is it justifiable that he can move around freely while waiting for the case to go to court? – I agree with the prosecution that the conditions for detention are not present. He now receives close follow-up from competent healthcare personnel, she says. – Understands that people are worried Professor and specialist in psychiatry, Tor Ketil Larsen, believes that as long as the health system works and patients receive stable treatment – then there is perhaps less cause for concern. – As a psychiatrist, I wouldn’t say that you should be worried, but I do understand that as a victim you get worried, he says. Nevertheless, he says that there is a risk that such situations could reverse. It is not the case, for example, that the state or lawyers can decide that a person sentenced to mental health care must take medication every day, says Larsen. He thinks the law as it stands today is not good enough. – I think we should have a change in the law that makes it possible for mental health services to offer long-term treatment in these cases. It is not a desired development that more and more people are being sentenced. It would be better if such stable treatment could have been provided to a greater extent within ordinary mental health care.
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