The new information that emerged in court surprises author Bjørn Olav Jahr, who follows the trial against the 52-year-old in Haugesund. He says it may seem as if the defendant is trying to place Birgitte Tengs into his own car. The 52-year-old described an outfit similar to what Tengs is said to have worn earlier, and the place where he dropped off the unknown woman was a place Birgitte Tengs used to frequent, the Old Slaughterhouse in Haugesund. REACTS: Bjørn Olav Jahr says the statements the 52-year-old made in the district court are interesting. Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news – It can be of great importance, because it can explain why his DNA is found on her pantyhose, says Jahr to news. The tights are the police’s most important evidence in the murder case. Birgitte Tengs was wearing it when she was found raped and killed on 6 May 1995. Jahr believes that there is much that is wrong with what the defendant explained in court. He thinks it doesn’t seem plausible. – If Birgitte Tengs has been sitting with him, then it is very strange that he has not said anything about this earlier. The defendant’s defense counsel denies that the client is trying to place 17-year-old Tengs in his car. Jahr himself became the subject of the court today. The defendant suspected that he had entered his house. The 52-year-old denies criminal guilt for murder, and stated in court today that he did not know Birgitte. If he had met her, then this must have happened by chance, he explained. Young girls drove For several hours, the prosecution asked questions about the defendant’s car use. In court, he explained that in the 90s he acted almost as a private driver for teenage girls on Karmøy. When he was questioned by the police in 1995 and 1996, he is said to have explained that the scope of his driving activities was far lower. Police inspector Unni Byberg Malmin wanted to know why he now explained himself differently than in interrogations in the 90s. – It is because I have remembered more, the defendant replies. ASSOCIATE: Police Inspector Unni Byberg Malmin. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news The man has spent the last six months or so reading through several interrogations of witnesses. He must have read just under 100 interrogations carefully, while he must have skimmed the rest. Jahr believes that the defendant appears to be well prepared, and believes that the defendant had a good point when he described the interrogations of him in the 90s as rushed. – The interrogations he sat in before lasted an hour. Grete Strømme and I have criticized these interrogations in the past. They don’t seem thorough. The problem lies as much with those who have questioned him as with him. After his arrest in September last year, he has explained about the far more frequent transport of hitchhikers. He repeated this in court today. He had what can be described as a “friendship” with a group of girls aged 16-17. He himself was 24 years old. – I was a driver. There was no hugging or physical contact. They sat in my car, he says. THE CAR: The defendant explained in court today that he drove a lot around Karmøy. Photo: Illustration/Syed Ali Shahbaz Akhtar / news Unknown, young girl in the car The 52-year-old also explains that he drove many unknown passengers. Most of them were girls. He remembers one of the trips particularly well, he explained in court today. The trip was in May 1995, and he describes the passenger he picked up as a “normal, healthy girl” between 16 and 20 years old. She was picked up in Kopervik and he drove her to the Old Slaughterhouse in Haugesund, explains the 52-year-old. He didn’t know who she was. Byberg Malmin wanted to know why he remembered this particular passenger so well. – It was the way she was dressed, and the word “hippie”, which the lawyer mentioned, he says. In court, he was able to describe the clothes she was wearing: black stilettos, thick tights with knitted borders. The prosecutor wanted to know if the defendant knew who the girl was, or if he could identify her. – I haven’t paid enough attention to her to be able to identify her, says the 52-year-old. In court today, it emerged that Birgitte Tengs had also been at the Old Slaughterhouse in Haugesund shortly before she was killed. A friend of Birgitte Tengs explained in questioning in 1995 that they took the bus together to Haugesund on Sunday 30 April, in connection with a night to 1 May event. Later that night, Birgitte was driven home by an acquaintance. The defender says it is not right that the 52-year-old is trying to place Birgitte Tengs in his car ahead of the murder. He is adamant that he has never met her. – What he is trying to do is that, after going through a lot of case documents and interviews given in the case, and thinking back on this period, he comes up with this episode, because he links it to a concrete episode at work where he meets his boss. That is what he is talking about, says the defender. – But how does he remember the clothing so accurately, clothes that can remind of clothes Birgitte Tengs wore? – It is now your claim that this is reminiscent of the clothes she is wearing. He explained why he remembered this, because he related this to several work-related incidents that happened in connection with that drive, says Kristensen. Bjørn Olav Jahr describes the information from the defendant as interesting. – It can also explain that there is a relationship between them, or he can tell a story. In any case, it is very interesting, says the author. May have met Birgitte The defendant explained in court today that he was lonely in the mid-90s, but felt included when he drove the gang of girls around in his car on Karmøy and in Haugesund. – It was good to have someone to be with, he says. He denies that he knew Birgitte Tengs, but did not rule out that they may have met by chance, for example through her hitchhiking with him. He also said that he had previously met one of Birgitte’s friends, and that he bought her underwear. On the day Birgitte Tengs was killed, he must have been in Haugesund. The police believe the 52-year-old had no alibi at the time of the murder. – I remember driving to Haugesund that evening and picking up two hitchhikers. I don’t know who they were, but there were two well-dressed women in their 30s, says the accused man. These hitchhikers have never been identified. Unknown at the scene Birgitte Tengs was found raped and killed on Gamle Sundvegen in Kopervik. The defendant says that this was a road he was not familiar with. He says that he cycled on the road in connection with a class trip when he was 12–13 years old. – That does not mean that I am known there, says the defendant. The first time he was at the crime scene was several years after Tengs was killed. . – It was a cousin who showed me where it had happened. It must have been in the late 90s, says the defendant. He denies that he is as well known on Karmøy and the roads in the area as has been claimed. NOT KNOWN: The 52-year-old defendant says he was not known on Gamle Sundvegen. Photo: news Hoping for more answers Yesterday, when Torger Tengs sat in the witness box, he looked straight at the defendant and asked him to tell what he knew, when he was to take the same witness box later in the trial. Today, the parents hoped to find out more about what happened in May 1995. – The hope was to get some answers. They have not received that at all, says the parents’ legal aid lawyer, John Christian Elden. He says it is hard for the parents to listen to, but will follow the explanation further to hear if he has anything to add. The defendant will explain himself further on Thursday. Birgitte Tengs was found murdered on 6 May 1995. A 52-year-old man from Karmøy is now charged in the Tengs case, and the trial begins on Monday 7 November 2022.
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The 52-year-old gave new information in court – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
