The woman in her 30s who was sentenced to the law’s most severe punishment – 21 years in prison – for having killed her two sons in Lørenskog, withdraws the appeal. Her lawyer, Gunhild Lærum, informs Dagbladet.
The appeal should actually have started in the Eidsivating Court of Appeal on Tuesday this week. Now, instead, the verdict from the district court stands.
– My client has thought a lot about this. She knows that this case is painful and difficult for everyone involved and does not want to expose anyone to more strain than this has already entailed. That is why we are withdrawing the appeal, says Lærum to Dagbladet.
In addition to the murders, the woman was convicted of embezzling NOK 115,000 from the bank account of the eldest of the two sons, a sum to be paid as compensation to the children’s father. She must also pay him 692,304 kroner in restitution.
Wanted to take the children to death
– Violent self-loathing
It was 19 July in 2020 that fire crews moved out to report a possible fire in the woman’s home. There, the two children were found strangled. At the same time, their mother was found critically injured and sent to hospital.
The next day, the police went out with the message that the woman in her late 30s was charged with having killed her children.
Ahead of the trial in the district court, Lærum told Dagbladet about a mentally stressful time for her client both before and after she took the lives of her children.
– She wanted to take her own life, and her thought was that it was best for them to die together. She is angry with herself and how life has developed. Angry because she has not managed to get out of this before. She is left with a violent self-loathing and is extremely heavy. My client feels that she has nothing to live for, the lawyer said.
