On July 12 last year, Christian Halvorsen was shot outside his own house in Askim. He was 43 years old when he was found by his cohabitant last summer.
The police received the report of the badly injured man at 22.22. Life-saving measures were put in place when the emergency services arrived at the house, but the life of the father of the family could not be saved. The police put in great resources to find the perpetrator.
RIGHT: Christian Halvorsen left a cohabitant and a daughter. Photo. Private
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Two people were arrested six days after the horrific incident, but the police dropped the charge against the older of the two.
The youngest of those arrested, a 33-year-old man from Askim, who remained arrested in a dramatic police action, is now charged with murder.
According to the indictment, 33-year-old Christian Halvorsen shot in the back with a rifle.
The man is also charged with violence against the deceased after an episode in January 2020, where he allegedly hit Halvorsen several times in the face.
The 33-year-old is also charged with 12 cases of theft and a number of other offenses, it appears from the four-page indictment.
Neglected
According to Ole Petter Drevland, who defends the man, he is connected to the crime scene and the murder, but does not admit guilt after the indictment.
– He has admitted negligent homicide related to a malfunction of the weapon. We had hoped that it would be the indictment, but it will be up to the court to decide, says Drevland.
– The weapon went off by accident. It should never have happened and he is strongly affected by it, says Drevland.
Torgeir Luthro is a police lawyer in the Eastern police district and has worked with the murder since the incident happened.
GUNS: One month before the murder of Christian Halvorsen, the accused 32-year-old was pictured with a Mauser rifle on a camping trip. The police must have control of this weapon. Photo: Private.
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Luthro tells Dagbladet that it is an overall assessment of the evidence situation that is the reason why the police chose to prosecute for premeditated murder. Despite the wishes of the accused man.
– It is the totality of the evidence that makes the police believe that the murder was intentional, says Torgeir Luthro.
Central to this assessment are, among other things, the motive, technical investigations and the credibility of the defendant’s explanation in relation to these and other factors. The police state that the public prosecutor has chosen to follow the police’s recommendation, says Luthro.
Challenges
The police attorney says that there have been several challenges associated with the investigation.
– A challenge has been the fact that there are no witnesses to the murder itself. This has meant that the technical investigations in the case are central, says Torgeir Luthro to Dagbladet.
According to the police attorney, there were initially also challenges related to the fact that some witnesses did not want to talk to the police about the case.
He does not want to go into the course of events prior to the murder.
– The police an opinion on this. Both this and the defendant’s explanation will, however, be the subject of processing during the main trial, and is not something the police want to go into now, says Torgeir Luthro.
The court has set aside eight days for the case, which will take place in Follo and Nordre Østfold District Court from 11 November.
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