The 58-year-old accused denied criminal liability when the case started in Trøndelag District Court on Monday morning. The murder of Stig Ola Westgård is the second murder in the same street in Trondheim in half a year. In both cases, the defendants were psychotic and had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. When he said he had killed Putin on 15 May last year, the defendant called AMK and asked for help. He said he had cut his finger. Health personnel rushed to the municipal flat at Lademoen. There they found Stig Ola Westgård (56) dead on the defendant’s sofa. According to the indictment, Westgård was bleeding completely from several stab wounds to the upper body. Stig Ola Westgård was killed with many stab wounds Photo: Private After Westgård was dead, the accused cut many places on his body. That is why he is also accused of abusing a corpse. The health personnel who called the police said that the defendant had said that “he had killed Putin”. This was stated by the prosecutor, acting state attorney Eli Reberg Nessimo, in his introduction to the court on Monday. The defendant thought it was someone who had put a rubber doll on his sofa. This is clear from a judgment from Trøndelag district court in October 2021. Then he appeared in court to have the decision on compulsory mental health care, which was made shortly after the murder, revoked. The deceased called and said that he had been stabbed in the stomach. Westgård was found on the defendant’s sofa on Saturday morning 15 May. Just before 2 a.m., a man called AMK and said he had been stabbed in the stomach. Health and police searched for the caller in the area, but without finding anyone involved. When Westgård was found dead with the defendant, the police linked the two incidents together. The deceased’s mobile phone was found next to him. Voice samples show that it was the deceased who had reported that he was injured earlier in the night. On the sofa, Westgård was found dead under a blanket. Photo: Police Long medical history The defendant has been admitted many times, either voluntarily or under duress, to a psychiatric institution. Most admissions have been at St. Olav’s hospital in Østmarka in Trondheim. At the end of the 90s, he lived at home with his mother and aunt, while he was on leave from the hospital. From the journal note that is presented in the judgment it says: He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia many years ago. The clearest signs of the disease are delusions and hallucinations. During several admissions, he has been psychotic. Medicine must keep the disease in check. The man has an ambivalent relationship with taking medication. He is also dependent on alcohol, which dampens the effect of antipsychotic medication. The prosecutor stated on Monday that the defendant did not want to take his medication in the last few days before the murder of Westgård. The deceased is taken away on 15 May 2021 Photo: Bjarte Johannesen / news Doctor: The defendant neither harmed himself nor others On 17 February 2021, a month and a half before the murder, he was forcibly hospitalized again. On 22 March he was allowed to move back to his flat. A week later, the hospital assessed that he was healthy enough for the compulsion to be lifted. For several years, he had been followed up by PART, an ambulatory treatment offer for people with psychosis or bipolar disorders. Similar offers are available in several places in Norway. The defendant was positive about the trial with PART and wanted to continue working with them, the judgment states. The man told the doctor that he was willing to take the medicine voluntarily. The doctor thought the enforcement decision could be revoked and wrote, among other things, this in the journal: Assault nurse on the same day he was admitted The man is also charged with violence against a nurse on 17 February 2021. According to the indictment, he hit her on the head and body several times, she fell and the defendant took a stranglehold on the nurse. She had to be treated in hospital, was on sick leave for at least eight months and has been diagnosed with PTSD. The nurse was wearing protective equipment due to the corona situation. The defendant must have believed that it was an “extraterrestrial being” that he had to protect himself against. The superintendent thought the attack was due to the patient being stressed because he was psychotic. The hospital did not report the case to the police until 29 June, that is to say a month and a half after the murder. The practice is that the hospital does not report incidents of violence to the police if it is committed by a patient who is not criminally liable. Merete Blokkum, director of business management at St. Olav’s hospital, told Adresseavisen in September. – I was the one who found him dead The defendant explained himself on Monday via video link from the hospital where he is admitted. – I was the one who found him dead, says the defendant when he is asked by the judge if he wants to explain himself. There were other visitors to the apartment earlier in the evening. The police have confirmed that. The defendant says he was shot with a stun gun by a third person. The defendant then allegedly fell asleep and woke up in the morning to find someone lying under a blanket on the sofa. – I was shocked, says the defendant. He also describes the injuries to the deceased for the court. – At first I thought it was Putin who was lying there, But then I realized it was Stig, says the defendant. He says he cut Westgård’s shoe to check if he was alive. In court, the defendant denied that he had killed Westgård. – If I did it, it was out of emotion, in self-defence, says the defendant. More details in the police interview Since the defendant has difficulty answering all questions, the prosecutor reads out from the police interview with the defendant. There he explained in detail what he did with the deceased to find out if he was alive. news has chosen not to refer to any of this, out of consideration for those left behind. During the interrogation, he says several times that he “killed Putin” and that Westgård sprayed him in the face. He provoked that. The defendant says in court that if he was a murderer, he would hide the knives and body afterwards. When asked by judge Frode Hanssen about how his health is, the defendant replies that he has been partially “healthy” for the past twenty years. – Have you ever had a psychosis, asks the judge. – No, but maybe 25 years ago. On 14 May the defendant bought some knives. The prosecutor presented the receipts in court. The defendant bought a knife set the day before the murder. On the left is what the police bought in, on the right is the box that was found in the defendant’s possession. Photo: The police After he found Westgård dead, he went out into the backyard where there were several cars. The accused thought they could belong to people who wanted to kill him. That’s why he poked a hole in the tire. Then he cut his hands and some of the blood dripped onto the ground, the defendant explained. As regards the violence against the nurse in February 2021, the defendant could not think of anything special about it. May be sentenced to compulsory mental health care The defendant was not supported in court last autumn to be released from compulsory care. His lawyer argued that the conditions for coercion were not met: his condition had not worsened. He had been out of compulsory protection for longer periods from 2003 to 2014 and from 2015 to 2021. The tapering of the medication had taken place in consultation with the GP. And the patient would continue to take the medication if he was discharged, argued the lawyer of the man who was then charged with murder. In court on Monday, defense attorney Kolbjørn Lium asked how often the defendant took his medication in recent weeks. The defendant replied that if he did not want to take the medicine that the health personnel brought in the morning and evening, he would go away. The prosecutor has notified that a request for a sentence on compulsory mental health care may be submitted. When the prosecutor read out the indictment, the defendant answered “NO” to all points. Two nurses in addition to the defense attorney sit with the defendant at a table in the hospital. The hospital apologized after the first murder. In the same street as the defendant, Cathrine Sand was found murdered in a flat. There was a person who had already been sentenced to compulsory protection. Cathrine Sand was killed by a man who had been sentenced to compulsory protection Photo: Private, via Trøndelag police district Sand was himself a patient at Østmarka, but escaped from the hospital. Nineteen days later she was stabbed to death by the man with whom she partly lived. The relatives thought the hospital had not done enough to take care of Sand. – This murder should never have taken place, said defense lawyer Svein Holden during the trial. The state’s health inspectorate determined that St. Olav’s did not provide proper health care. Clinic manager Elin Ulleberg apologized to the relatives. Demanding to predict the exercise of violence Patients with serious mental illness often have a fluctuating course. They may need 24-hour hospitalization and a safe environment. But they can also have long periods where the condition is stable. Then they can function properly in their own home with help from the health service. Clinic manager Elin Ulleberg tells news that it has been a politically and professionally desired development that patients should live with themselves when they are assessed to be able to do so. – We take preventing violence very seriously. At the same time, we must understand that it is demanding for healthcare personnel to predict the exercise of power, says Ulleberg to news. The trial in Trøndelag district court lasts all week. Among those who will testify are professionals who treat the accused both before and after the murder.
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