Four people have been convicted after five cars burned down in Hovseter in March 2020. In the Oslo District Court, the ringleader admitted that he set fire to one of the cars because he was tired of paying the car loan. The court believes that the other cars were set on fire to hide that the car fire was an insurance fraud.
The Oslo District Court writes in the judgment that it is important to react strictly to car fires, and that it is aggravating that this car fire was financially motivated.
“In the court’s view, it is aggravating that the act was financially motivated – namely so that NN (the 21-year-old’s family member) would be paid the insurance money on the car. Furthermore, it is aggravating that the act was planned, that it was committed by several people together and that the four rear cars were, or were attempted to be, set on fire to cover up the insurance fraud,” writes the Oslo district court in the judgment.
The 21-year-old has been sentenced to six months in prison for, among other things, the car fires. His defender, Øyvind Bergøy Pedersen, tells Nettavisen that the verdict will be appealed.
Car fires in Oslo
In the spring of 2020, a number of car fires were started in Oslo. Nettavisen wrote about several of these cases and Storting politician Jan Bøhler also focused on them in this comment: 23 cars burned in one week: Danger of someone taking advantage of the situation.
Read also: Demanded answers about car fires from the Minister of Justice
Among the car fires this spring were the five cars that were set on fire at Hovseter. Four men aged 18 to 20 were arrested in connection with the fires that same evening.
Read: Four arrested after car arson at Hovseter in Oslo
The perpetrators smashed the windows of the cars, poured petrol over them, and then set them on fire.
– The car had been bothering me
The 21-year-old explained in the district court that this car had been bothering him for a long time. It had belonged to a family member who had passed away, but was prohibited from using it and could therefore be difficult to sell. As a result, it had been left standing, and the 21-year-old had had to service the car loan.
“He explained that he had a spontaneous thought that if he set fire to the car, the insurance money would be paid out and he would have nothing more to do with it,” writes the Oslo District Court in the judgment. The other three convicts were friends of the 21-year-old.
The 21-year-old explained how he made preparations by earlier in the day hiding a glass hammer and a can of petrol at the ball pit near where the cars were parked.
A little before 4 o’clock on the night of Monday 20 March, he was driven to Hovseterveien where the relevant family car was parked. He and another person smashed the windows of his own car, as well as four other cars. They were then soaked in petrol and set alight.
The 21-year-old claimed in the Oslo district court that it was an accident that the other four cars were set on fire, while another of the convicts told the court that “several cars had to be set on fire to make it look like an accidental car fire” and that 21 -year-old had said “the more, the better”, the judgment states.
The Oslo District Court assumes that the other four cars were set on fire to hide the fact that this was an insurance fraud.
– Anker
Two friends were waiting in a car nearby. When the car fires had started, the two men were picked up by the car in question which drove away from the scene at high speed.
The police and fire brigade rushed to the fire. In a short time, the police had tracked down the car that had been at the scene when the fires were started. The four convicts were arrested at Storo in Oslo approximately an hour after the cars were set on fire. A glass hammer and spilled petrol were found in the car – among other things on the 21-year-old’s clothes.
The 21-year-old has been sentenced in the Oslo District Court to six months in prison for the car fires, as well as for driving far too fast without a driving license on two occasions. The court believes that he should actually have been sentenced to eight months in prison, but that the long processing time gives grounds for a reduced sentence.
Lawyer Øyvind Bergøy Pedersen says that his client has admitted to setting fire to his own car, but has not admitted what he is now convicted of.
– He is appealing the sentencing and the application of the law, says Pedersen to Nettavisen.
Lawyer Cecilie Nakstad, who defended one of the other defendants, also says that the verdict will be appealed.
2023-07-16 15:16:28
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