It had long been speculated as to why Jakob Ingebrigtsen and his brothers suddenly broke with his father and then coach Gjert Ingebrigtsen in February 2022.
Almost two years later, in a chronicle in the Norwegian World Gang, the three brothers Jakob, Henrik and Filip Ingebrigtsen gave their explanation.
“We have grown up with a father who has been very aggressive and controlling and who has used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing. We still feel discomfort and fear that remains from childhood,” the trio wrote.
“Missing foundation”
In the same article, Gjert Ingebrigtsen denied the charges.
“The accusations they come with are missing. I have never practiced violence against my children. That I have had deficiencies as a father, and to a great extent been a coach, is something I also admitted to myself, albeit too late,” he replied.
After the chronicle, several investigations were started on abuse and the brothers told of a father who took a strangulation and pushed their heads into the floor. Many of the cases were discontinued in the absence of evidence or that the cases were prescribed. But not all. Now the trial begins where Gjert Ingebrigtsen is accused of abusing two of his children: Jakob Ingebrigtsen and his little sister.
“Very young”
According to Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s lawyer Mette Yvonne Larsen, the father has abused his son for ten years.
“The abuse goes back to when he was very young,” Larsen said in November last year.
The trial will last for about two months and among the 34 witnesses to be heard are the two plaintiffs, their siblings and mother. Others to be heard are runners who have had Gjurt Ingebrigtsen as coach. Video clips and audio files should be played and the evidence also includes records and sms, NTB writes.
The Gjert Ingebrigtsen can, if he is felled, be sentenced to six years in prison.
When Ingebrigtsen’s lawyer John Christian Elden arrived at the district court, he answered the question of whether his client is nervous:
– He is as nervous as everyone else would have been if they were forced into a court for what they think they have not done. The waiting time has been long and has been difficult, but now we are running, he said.