In January 2024, a girl who lived at a corresponding HVB home (Barnevernsinstitusjon) in eastern Norway reported that she had been sexually assaulted by an employee at the facility. During the questioning of the girl, suspicions emerged that more girls at the home were subjected to abuse.
Now a 55-year-old man from Värmland is charged with sexual offenses against a total of five girls at the HVB home where he worked.
The girl who first reported the man took her own life a short time after the abuse was revealed.
– I don’t want to speculate on why she took her own life, but it is clear that it is a serious matter that affected the interviews with the crime victims, says the prosecutor Stian Moltke-Hansen Tveten to NRK.
Launched to distant places
The man is said to have driven the vulnerable girls to remote locations in eastern Norway and there committed the suspected assaults on the girls.
The native of Värmland is suspected of sexual abuse, attempted rape, illegal threats, sexual violations and for having saved pictures of the girls where he allegedly forced the girls to take pictures of themselves in sexual situations and send them to the man. Pictures that the man had saved on his mobile phone.
The man was fired from the HVB home in Norway
One of the people in charge at the HVB home where the man worked and the girls lived tells NRK that there are very serious events that have affected them strongly. The native of Värmland was fired the same day the suspicions became known.
– The indictment describes actions that should never occur, especially not in a place where children and young people should be safe and cared for by professional staff.
Arrested but released
The Värmlander was arrested in connection with a house search, but was released and is at large until the trial because the police assess that there is no risk of the man continuing to commit crimes.
– Our assessment is that there is no risk of contact between the crime victims and the suspect, and that there is therefore no risk of him being able to influence the plaintiffs before an upcoming trial, says prosecutor Stian Moltke-Hansen Tveten.
The trial is scheduled to be held in March 2025.
SVT Nyheter Värmland is looking for the suspect.
In an SMS to NRK, the native of Värm writes that he is innocent of the accusations leveled against him.