On Sunday, a man was arrested after he allegedly tried to lure children into a van at Marienlyst school in Oslo. One of the children must have managed to take a picture of the registration number on the car.
On Tuesday, the arrested person was remanded in custody for a week.
– He has been charged with reckless behavior after an incident at Marienlyst school on Sunday morning, writes police press chief Unni T. Grøndal to VG.
In connection with the arrest on Sunday, the accused man tried to throw a memory stick into a rubbish bin, according to the imprisonment order.
The man’s defender Per Rosland states on Thursday that he cannot give further comments about any evidence at this stage in the investigation.
– The client has not yet been questioned, but the plan is to get it done soon, he writes to VG.
He pleads not guilty and will cooperate with the police, confirms the lawyer.
Secure chat logs
According to the detention order, the police have, among other things, secured video from the accused’s phone.
In light of the content of the chats on the accused’s phone, the court does not believe the accused’s explanation that he wanted to help people who were exposed to sexual abuse.
The chats with random people must be from the service OmegleOmegleOmegle is a free online chat service, which allows users to communicate with each other anonymously without registration. Source Wikipedia, according to the ruling. The accused also appears to have chatted with underage girls on Snapchat.
The man is said to have visited the girls at school on Sunday.
In a message to the parents at Marienlyst School, the management writes:
– The man eventually tried to lure one of the girls into a van, on the grounds that it was a nice place to hide, if she liked to play hide and seek.
He is also said to have been lured by the fact that there was ice cream and sweets in the car.
– The girls resisted the call, and went home and told the story to their parents.
According to the message to the guardians, one of the children must have been quick-witted and took a photo of the car’s registration number.
The guardian contacted the police, and the man was later located and arrested.
Was in Oslo for the 50th anniversary party
– I can confirm that he was in Oslo, because he was invited to a 50-year team. He slept in the car because there was no accommodation available where the birthday party was held. He has not yet been questioned, says the defender Per Rosland.
– He has explained himself to the police. That is what I can say for the sake of the investigation at the present time, says the man’s defender Per Rosland.
The lawyer adds that a request for two weeks’ imprisonment had been submitted.
– The court came to the conclusion that there is a certain risk of tampering with evidence, and reduced the remand to one week. I argued against the father for tampering with evidence because the police have the opportunity to examine his belongings, says Rosland.
Praises the girls and the police
Knut Erik Brændvang, principal at Marienlyst Skole, was informed of the incident by one of the girls’ guardians on Sunday evening.
– The most important thing is that things have apparently gone well with the girls, and that the police have been so resolute and quick. I think that’s good, says Brændvang.
He is very impressed by the responsiveness of the girls.
– It’s one thing to know what to do. Another thing is to do this. We have very good children at our school!
The police state that the accused man has stayed in Oslo for a shorter period, but is registered elsewhere.
– The police have knowledge of the accused from before, without us going into it further, says press manager Unni Grøndal.
She does not want to go into details about the incident at the school.
– The matter is under investigation, and we will survey the incident and what movements the accused has had. It is too early to say whether the incident is related to previous, similar cases.
