A man is convicted in a highly publicized murder case in Norway in May 2000, the so-called Baneheia murder.
Two girls, eight and ten years old, were at a bathing spot together early in the evening of May 19, 2000, but never came home again. They were found two days later under piles of branches and twigs in the outdoor recreation area Baneheia in Kristiansand in southern Norway, raped and stabbed to death.
The man is now sentenced to two years in prison for one of the two murders. He was previously, in 2002, sentenced to 19 years in prison for the other murder. Thus, he receives a total of 21 years in prison for the double murder.
According to Norwegian law at the time of the crimes, the maximum sentence was 21 years in prison.
In the 2002 trial, another man was also convicted in the case. The sentence was 21 years in prison, but after the case was reopened, he was released in 2021 and acquitted the following year.
With Tuesday's verdict, the district court establishes that the now-convicted man alone murdered the girls. He is also sentenced to pay damages equivalent to 1.3 million Swedish kronor to the murdered girl's parents.
