Disagreeing jury defies recommendation from the Danish Medical Council for detention and sentences 19-year-old to 12 years in prison.
A 19-year-old man is sentenced to 12 years in prison in the Court in Hjørring for the murder and rape of a 13-year-old girl in Hjallerup.
It is a divided jury that has delivered the verdict on Friday at 1 pm.
A minority voted for detention, but the majority decided that the man be sentenced to 12 years in prison.
“A very special recklessness has been shown, but we have placed emphasis on the age of the defendant and that he has no previous convictions,” says the presiding judge.
The defendant was 17 years old when he killed the girl. It happened out of frustration that she had broken up with a boyfriend.
On the way home from youth club, ‘it clicked’, he explained.
He knocked the girl over, grabbed her by the neck, and hit and stomped on her.
She was found lifeless and fatally injured shortly afterwards behind the heating plant in Hjallerup.
The girl was wearing only a bra, a top and stockings. Her pants and panties were in a nearby container.
Also convicted of rape
The murder took place just a few days before the defendant’s 18th birthday.
While the defendant pleaded guilty to murder, he denied raping the girl.
But the court emphasized that signs of semen had been found in several places on the girl. DNA traces, which most likely came from the defendant, had also been found on the girl.
In addition to murder and rape, the jury also found the man guilty of indecent treatment of a corpse by dousing the deceased with cola.
He was also found guilty of having had a sexual relationship other than intercourse with a 14-year-old girl in 2022, of violence and robbery.
However, he was acquitted of a charge of rape of a 15-year-old girl.
The Danish Medical Council had recommended that he be sentenced to detention.
According to the council, this is ‘required’ to prevent him from committing new crimes that endanger people.
Prosecutor is surprised by verdict
Defense lawyer Mette Grith Stage had argued in court for a sentence of ten years in prison.
She says after the verdict that her client is ‘relieved’ that it ended with a fixed-term sentence rather than indefinite detention.
“Now he knows that he will be out in 12 years – if not sooner – and that means there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
“But it’s not like we feel it’s a victory, because it’s a completely terrible case where there are only losers,” says Mette Grith Stage.
Although she is satisfied that the sentence is time-limited, she has nevertheless asked for time to consider whether she wishes to appeal the verdict.
A former prosecutor is surprised that a 19-year-old man is given 12 years in prison and not detention for raping and killing a 13-year-old girl in Hjallerup.
“After the crime that was committed here – as brutal as it was – it surprises me that no detention is being imposed,” says Jeanette Wincentz Andersen, who has been a prosecutor for 40 years but is now retired.
She believes that the prosecution should consider appealing the verdict to the High Court.
Ritzau
