– It was very chaotic. Everyone shouted at each other, and it happened so fast, says the 34-year-old from the witness box in Oslo District Court.
Nine months have passed since the murder he is now charged with. In a small apartment on Tøyen in Oslo, the fight ended fatally when the accused stabbed a knife in the chest of Dahir Abdirahman Yusuf, who had previously beaten him with an iron bar.
The accused was out on weekend leave from an intoxication institution in Oslo when a friend late Friday 14 May invited him to celebrate the Islamic holiday owned.
Disagree on knife
The comrade eventually suggested that they go on to an apartment to meet a woman he had talked to, the accused explains.
Arriving at the apartment, the defendant, according to his own explanation, was surprised that there were three men in addition to the woman. Everyone in the apartment was intoxicated.
– DECIDED HERE: Oslo District Court is handling the murder case this week. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
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The atmosphere was not good, so the defendant and the friend quickly left the apartment again.
Then they realized that they had left their drinks, explains the accused, who at the same time discovered that the comrade had a knife in his pocket.
– I said I would not go in again if he had the knife with him, so he gave me the knife, which I put in my pocket. Then we knocked on the door again, the 34-year-old says in court.
The comrade has in interrogation denied any involvement with the knife. He and the accused disagree about who brought it to the apartment.
– Pushing and fighting
When the door opened, the atmosphere was immediately chaotic, according to the accused. He thinks he tried to explain that they should only pick up their drink, but that no one listened to him.
– The guys were very angry and aggressive. It was pushing and punching and stuff, he says.
– ÅSTED: The police forensic technicians were on site at 05.42 on the relevant Saturday, a quarter of an hour after the police first received the report. Photo: Sverre Saabye / TV 2
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Defendant believes he received two blows to the head.
– While holding on to my head, I got hit in the side with the iron bar. I turned and saw that he was hitting me in the head. Everything became “shaky”. I lost my balance and thought “now I’m going to die”, he says.
– SEIZED: This is what the iron bar looked like when the police found it. State Attorney Johan Øverberg also physically showed it in court. Photo: Police
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Defendant broke a rib as a result of the blow with the iron bar. His friend and the man who lived in the apartment have also described that the accused was beaten.
The last two people who were present, the police have not succeeded in questioning.
– Aimed at the arm
According to the accused, the murder happened within a few seconds. At the same time as the iron bar came towards him, he took out the knife and shouted “stop, stop”, he claims.
– I aimed the knife at his arm, but he moved so much. I felt that I hit him, but I was one hundred percent sure that I hit his arm, he says in court.
– DEFENDANT: Lawyer Øyvind Bratlien defends the 34-year-old accused of murder. Photo: Thomas Evensen / TV 2
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The knife hit the 26-year-old in the chest. While the accused ran from the scene, the man who lives in the apartment called the police.
At 05.38, the victim was transported into an ambulance. He breathed but was not contactable. Therefore, he was rushed to hospital.
Four days later he was pronounced dead.
The police immediately started the search for the perpetrator, as the witnesses at the scene had described to them.
Denied in interrogation
First, they found his comrade along a sidewalk nearby. He was charged, but the case was later dropped on his part.
Despite an extensive police chase, it took 24 hours before the accused at 16.14 on Sunday 16 May was arrested at the Comfort Express Hotel in central Oslo.
– HIDDEN: The accused man explains that he intoxicated himself to cope with the pain in his ribs while sitting in a hotel room and considering reporting to the police. Photo: Sveinung Kyte / TV 2
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In his first interrogation with the police, the 34-year-old denied any involvement in the murder.
When asked why he did not put the cards on the table, he answers today that he was very tired and intoxicated when he was arrested shortly after the arrest.
Even in later interrogations, he still denied having anything to do with the murder.
– I changed my mind after a few days and decided to say it as it was, he says today.
Previously convicted
The accused man clearly answered “not guilty” when the judge read out the indictment for him on Tuesday morning. He believes he acted in self-defense when he committed the murder.
– PROSECUTOR: State Attorney Johan Øverberg is leading the prosecution’s case against the 34-year-old. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB
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In court, the accused is open about his drug problems, which began already in his youth. The man came to Norway without parents when he was of primary school age.
He is also not unknown to the police from before.
In 2014, the accused was sentenced to eight months in prison for violence. According to the verdict, he used a glass bottle to commit the violence, which damaged the sight of the victim.
In the same criminal case, he was also convicted of stealing a pair of jeans from Carlings and of storing cannabis. In the autumn of 2020, he was again convicted of possession of drugs.
Four days have been set aside for the trial in Oslo District Court.
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