THE COURT: Defendant’s defender Jonny Sveen (TV) and his daughter’s legal aid lawyer Frank Tveit. Photo: Sven Arne Buggeland / VG
SKIEN (VG) As a child, she experienced a man taking complete control of their lives: – I didn’t feel safe, didn’t know who I could trust.
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Less than 10 minutes ago
- A man in his 40s is indicted in the Telemark District Court for gross fraud and gross coercion, after leading a mother and daughter to believe that their lives were in danger
- From 2010 to 2022, they had to submit to a compulsory regime of reporting obligations and rules. According to the indictment, the mother was defrauded of NOK 1.8 million
- The daughter had to call the defendant dad and lost contact with her biological father. She was not allowed to choose her own friends and was refused to apply for a scholarship
- The mother broke out of the fantasy world and reported the man to the police in January 2022. The defendant pleads guilty, remembers little and has no answers
Sea view
A man in his 40s is indicted in the Telemark district court for gross fraud and gross coercion against a single mother and her daughter.
The daughter, who is now in her 20s, explains on Tuesday about the coercive regime. She told the police that she felt more sadness than fear.
– Those are the years I have lost with my family. Grandma who got gray hair, grandfather who became more confident, cousins I have less contact with, says the woman.
Because she and her mother became more and more isolated, while the defendant ruled their lives. He remembers little and has few answers in court, but pleads guilty on all counts.
The daughter’s legal aid lawyer Frank Tveit asks how she feels about the defendant today.
– Disgust, the young woman replies after a moment of silence.
Nothing he told them was true. The man explained in court on Monday that there is a dark side to his life, that he is unable to distinguish lies from truth.
Said they were in mortal danger
Before he came, they were so ordinary, mother and daughter.
They were out on the lake, strolling in the forest, attending parties and family visits. The girl was active in skiing, she toured, played the cello, had friends.
Everything changed when an acquaintance of the mother moved into the downstairs in 2010.
He said that he had been a security guard in Oslo, that he had a background in intelligence. And he could tell mother and daughter that their lives were in danger.
They learned that the girl’s biological father was a murderer and abuser, and active in a criminal network of drug offenders.
IN THE COURT: Frank Tveit is the assistant lawyer for the mother, Knut-Eldar Eitran for the daughter. Prosecutor Jon Harald Borgen sits behind. Photo: Sven Arne Buggeland / VG
The mother has explained that the defendant and she were never lovers. But she stood by him when he told his daughter that he had DNA proof that he is her father.
– First I heard that my real father was a thug, then I got a much better father – in imitation, says the daughter ironically in the district court.
They were told that child protection was also looking for them.
But he could protect them, for he organized teams of watchmen who followed them around the clock. Only they did exactly as he said.
Never safe
– It wasn’t just people I had to be afraid of. I had to be afraid, even though I was alone, says the daughter in court.
The defendant told about microphones sewn into a sweater, about cameras that could be glued to windows, about cameras that could be under the bench where she changed.
– I never had a place where I was completely safe, says the woman.
Mother and daughter had to submit to the defendant’s supervision. They had a duty to report when they came and went, where they were, who they were with.
– The rules changed, we didn’t always know what applied, says the daughter.
DEFENDER: Lawyer Jonny Sveen. Photo: Sven Arne Buggeland / VG
Once the defendant had discovered that the girl was about to get diabetes. She had to measure her blood pressure and blood sugar and have a special diet.
– I had to eat five times a day, at certain times. Dinner before three o’clock. 1–2 slices of bread had to go down in two minutes.
The girl was also ordered to ride a bike and get in good shape.
– I had to think that someone was behind me and riding so fast that they couldn’t catch me.
Today, she says that the threats were constantly kept alive. He kept giving them “evidence” of dramatic events around them, out in the woods, out in the dark.
– Damaged because of them
When she was 11–12 years old, the defendant told her about the abuse in detail, about how as a watchman he had seen people die.
The following year, when he says they will move to Jomfruland, it suddenly becomes impossible, because people have been attacked and injured out there – because of them.
– He said others had spread lies about what my mother had done, that that was why people hated us and wanted to hurt others, says the daughter.
She tells the court that the defendant said it was child protection that put a stop to them being able to move – “because there was so much around us that it wasn’t safe.”
THE COURT: The courthouse in Skien. Photo: Sven Arne Buggeland / VG
Both mother and daughter have explained that if they did not do as he said and went places he did not know about, there were fines.
NOK 50,000 was not at all unusual. Because it cost money to reorganize and move the guards who looked after them around the clock, according to the defendant.
– If we did something wrong, we were fined. It could be because the outside light wasn’t on or because there were things in the driveway that shouldn’t be there, says the daughter.
– Stressed and angry
According to the indictment, the mother must have transferred a net NOK 1.8 million to the man. NOK 730,000 in cash was also seized from his room.
– I saw that my mother was struggling with the finances. The relationship with her became weaker, because she was stressed and became angry. And I was afraid of being shot through the windows.
The daughter experienced that there was a lot of rage at home.
– If I hadn’t hung up the clothes that were in the washing machine, it was a crisis, if I hadn’t taken out the rubbish, it was a crisis.
BREAK: Magistrate Håvard Skjeldås and the fellow judges take a break. Defender Jonny Sveen on the right. Photo: Sven Arne Buggeland / VG
It is the boyfriend she gets after high school who makes her understand that something is terribly wrong. She gets her folder from the child protection service, there is nothing there.
During this time, she tells her story to a helpline. She says that the answer she received is that she has not been exposed to crime.
– Then I didn’t know what else to do. Then I collapsed. Then I had a type of anxiety attack, couldn’t pull myself together, just lay there and tried to breathe.
– Became very uncertain
The mother, a police reporter, charged the accused in January 2022. He confessed without reservation.
In courtroom 11 in Skien, solicitor Frank Tveit asks his client how the defendant’s actions towards her growing up have affected her.
– I haven’t been able to develop myself as I should socially, haven’t been able to explore what I’m capable of. I have had anxiety and have become very insecure.
A relative who testifies in court has the impression that the once so bouncy and vital girl has today become introverted and shy of conflict:
– She has lost a lot of her childhood. She was robbed of friends and contact with large parts of the family. Without friends and networks, you lose a lot.
In the district court, the prosecutor plays an audio recording between the defendant and the mother from January 2022. This is how the daughter summarizes her impression of their conversation:
– I get cursed, because he says it’s really her fault, that if she doesn’t listen to him, she’ll lose me. I’d say it’s pitiful, quite simply.
Published:
Published: 12.12.23 at 15:25
2023-12-12 14:25:09
#Mothers #friend #ruined #childhood #lies #threats #pitiful
