Man charged with attempted murder after sword attack

Man charged with attempted murder after sword attack
full screen The samurai sword was found during a search of the suspect’s house. Photo: The police

A 35-year-old man is suspected of having attacked another man with a samurai sword.

Now the man is charged with attempted murder. He himself denies any crime.

– He seems to have had a very different perception of reality, says prosecutor Hanna Emanuelsson.

It was at the end of July earlier this year that the police were called to an apartment building in Orsa due to a suspected stabbing.

On site, the police find a bleeding man on a lawn some distance from the apartments. According to the police’s preliminary investigation, the man had been attacked with a sword and stabbed in both the neck and hand.

A 35-year-old man was arrested shortly afterwards in one of the adjacent apartments. There were traces of blood all the way from the grass to one of the apartment doors. During a closer examination of the suspect’s apartment, a samurai sword was found on a sofa. Technicians also found a bloody pillowcase thrown in the trash.

full screen The sword that the man is suspected of having used in the attack. Photo: The police

Some concessions

The 35-year-old man is now charged with attempted murder. In questioning, he has made certain concessions but denies that he intended to kill the 22-year-old man.

“Had it been my wish to take someone else’s life, NN would not be breathing today if I had used a katana,” he says in questioning.

The injuries to the hand were deep cuts and also caused several fractures. According to the Norwegian Forensic Medicine Agency, the injury, without treatment, could be life-threatening.

Initially, the suspect says he defended himself in an emergency with a piece of glass. In later interrogations, however, he admits that it is about a sword and that he only said that because he sees the sword as part of himself.

fullscreenPart of the evidence: A bloody pillow case among the garbage. Photo: The police

Deviant perception of reality

To the newspaper Dalamakoraten commented prosecutor Hanna Emanuelsson on the initial interrogations at the time.

– What I can say is that he seems to have had a very different perception of reality, at least compared to what the witnesses and plaintiffs had in mind. At the moment he did not seem to have been completely well. We have to investigate that further, she says.

In the investigation, it has emerged that the man has sword art as an interest and he himself admits that he sometimes sleeps with the sword in bed.

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