– I hope and believe that such young children will be treated quite differently today, but having said that, we currently have some rules in the Criminal Procedure Act which do not give suspected children sufficient legal certainty. That’s what children’s ombudsman Inga Bejer Engh says. On Friday, it became known that the state prosecutor in Trøndelag concludes that three boys aged 4, 5 and 6 are innocent. They were blamed for the death of a five-year-old girl in Trondheim in 1994. The three boys were never convicted in court, but were named as guilty by the police. Believes that children should have a right to a defender Children’s Ombudsman Inga Bejer Engh believes that the current rules for police questioning must be changed. Today, it is the case that children can consent not to have a defender present. – It still happens, even in serious cases, that children appear for questioning without a defense attorney present, perhaps because they have agreed that it is not necessary. This can lead to children not understanding questions they are asked or misunderstanding them. – Can it lead to false confessions? – It certainly can, that is part of the reason why they must have a defender present. It is, after all, to ensure that the person against whom the suspicion is directed receives good follow-up and legal certainty when meeting with the police, says Engh. She believes the Ministry of Justice must look into whether it should be a duty to have a defense attorney present when children are questioned in cases of a certain seriousness. – As long as the Criminal Procedure Act looks like it does today, it is possible that children will not have sufficient legal certainty when they are questioned by the police. It is the Minister of Justice’s responsibility to have a good criminal procedure law that protects suspected children in a completely different way to what we have today, believes children’s ombudsman Inga Bejer Engh. Cleaning must be important Five-year-old Silje Marie Redergård was found dead at the top of a toboggan run on Tiller in Trondheim. Just one day later, three boys aged 4, 5 and 6 were named by the police as being responsible for mistreating her to death. In 1994, the boys were questioned in the form of conversations with the police, and no formal questioning was ever carried out. – This case, which has received a lot of attention, is a wake-up call. This means that the Minister of Justice has to create some guarantees of legal certainty for suspected children, which are quite different from today, says children’s ombudsman Inga Bejer Engh. She says that children who are suspected of a criminal offense are in a very vulnerable situation. Adults are then needed, preferably a defense attorney, who can follow what is happening in the interrogation room and ensure their rights. Relieved at decision The three boys, who are now in their 30s, are very relieved to be cleared. Lawyer Sigurd Klomsæt has defended the six-year-old. He now warns that they will now demand compensation for what the boys have been through. – They are entitled to a significant amount. They have had their freedom eluded for many years too. They were placed in foster homes, despite the fact that the families on both sides opposed it, he says. The case was decided to be reopened in December 2021 after news Brennpunkt published the documentary series “Murder in the sledge”, in which a number of experts are critical of the police investigation that was carried out at the time. The fifth episode in the series will be published by news Brennpunkt next week.
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The children’s ombudsman fears that children do not have sufficient legal security in police interrogations – news Trøndelag
