17-year-old Birgitte Tengs was murdered a few hundred meters from her home on Karmøy on the Norwegian southwest coast, on the night of May 6, 1995. She had been subjected to serious violence and sexual assault.
After almost 28 years – and an extensive legal mess in which the girl’s own cousin was convicted of the murder and acquitted – a 52-year-old man is now being sentenced for the murder.
When the verdict was announced in Haugaland and Sunnhordaland district court on Monday morning, the man sat down on the bench. A couple of minutes later he collapsed and was lying on the floor.
The meeting was interrupted, the courtroom was cleared of the audience and an ambulance was called. The judge stated to the assembled press that the verdict would be read out in full later in the day.
– He most likely had a drop in blood pressure due to tension connected to this day, so then he fainted, says defense lawyer Stian Kristensen.
In the player above: Pictures from the police operation around the murder scene and a picture of the girl.