The assault case in Bergen: – Different explanations:

BERGEN (Dagbladet): In January 2020, three men had sexual intercourse with a then 15-year-old girl at an address in Bergen.

All three admit to having had sexual intercourse with the girl, but all deny guilt. They thought she was older than she was.

On Thursday, the last of the three explained himself in Hordaland district court.

– When she and I chatted, it was about drinking and partying. She said she went to high school. We got into the topic of age. Then she pulled out identification which showed that she was born in 2003, said the accused 23-year-old.

The woman herself has denied having lied about her age, or having any form of false identification.

Sexual intercourse in turn

The three aggrieved parties go a long way in confirming each other’s and the aggrieved party’s version of the incident that night, but at the same time explain themselves differently about key parts of the sequence of events.

The victim has explained that she had contact with the 23-year-old on Snapchat, who answered her after a question about whether someone could drive her.

They then ended up at the defendant’s 25-year-old home.

She has explained that sex never became a topic, until they finally ended up in a bedroom and everyone had sex with her in turn in the same bed. She further explained that it must have been filmed during the incident in the bedroom.

All the defendants have denied that this happened.

– Felt pressured

The victim did not object to the sexual intercourse, but has explained that she felt pressured.

In court, all defendants also explain themselves somewhat differently from what they have previously told in questioning. Prosecutor Bendicte Hordnes has therefore asked both the 23-year-old and the 25-year-old if they are now adapting their explanation so that it is more consistent with the others’ explanations.

They reject this. Nor do they explain themselves in the same way.

This is what the 24-year-old says

The 24-year-old was the first to explain himself to the court. Here he explained that he had sexual intercourse with the then 15-year-old in the bathroom, and had not seen that the other two also had sexual intercourse with her. He only found out later.

The sexual intercourse must have been planned in advance of them picking up the victim, he explained.

He also explained that at one point – either in the car or in the home – she must have said that she was 16 years old and born in 2003, and only became aware in connection with the arrest that she was born the following year.

– You take people at their word when they say you are a certain age, as a rule.

He also explained that the accused 23-year-old must also have seen her ID, and that it confirmed that she was 16.

According to prosecutor Hordnes, he did not say anything about this point, about the identity card, during the interrogation.

Changed from the interrogation

In court, he explains that he does not define the relationship as “group sex”.

In questioning, he explained, according to the prosecutor, that he had “group sex” with the victim and the two co-accused. And that this must have happened in the bed in the bedroom, not in the bathroom.

Here he is said to have further told that it was the accused 23-year-old who had been in contact with the victim on Snapchat, and that he had “asked her to fuck”. She must have wanted to be involved.

The defendant justifies the ending in the explanation of the course of events with the fact that after the questioning he saw a video of himself and the victim in the bathroom, and that he must have remembered incorrectly.

This is what the 25-year-old says

The 25-year-old, who is also accused of a sleeping rape in 2018, has explained in court that it was he who had contact with the 15-year-old on Snapchat on the night in question.

He explained that everyone must have had sexual intercourse with the victim in the bedroom, and refers to this as

– I think I asked her to participate in sex or a threesome, explained the 25-year-old.

It wasn’t planned long before, he continued.

That she was over the sexual minimum age should have been clarified before they entered the bedroom. He explained in court that he must have seen a bank card with a date of birth in 2003.

According to the prosecutor, he did not mention anything about this during questioning.

The 25-year-old also denies the rape.

This is what the 23-year-old says

The 23-year-old is also accused of gang-raping another woman together with two other defendants in January 2021. He explained this in the first week of court. Here, too, he denies criminal guilt.

On Thursday, he was the last of the defendants to explain himself, and in court he explained himself to a large extent in the same way as the 24-year-old. In other words, the 24-year-old had sexual intercourse with the victim in the bathroom.

There is something different from what he has told in questioning, the prosecutor broke in. Here he is said to have explained that everyone was in the bedroom.

– Now you have completely adapted your explanation to suit him, continued the prosecutor.

The 23-year-old justified this by the fact that he had subsequently become aware of a video recording from the bathroom.

In court, the 23-year-old further explained that in a conversation with the victim in the living room, he must have seen her ID, and that it showed that she was born in 2003. Unlike the other two co-accused, he must also have told this in questioning .

He cannot remember who was in contact with the victim on Snapchat on the night in question.

Thursday was the last day of evidence in the extensive assault case. The procedures start on Friday. The presentation of evidence has taken longer than expected, and thus the case will only end on Monday 2 Whitsunday.