– I don’t remember being depressed

A witness who met Jan Helge Andersen in Baneheia the day before the murders believes he was depressed and sullen.

On Friday, a childhood friend and others who knew murder defendant Jan Helge Andersen testified in his teens and during the period when the murders in Baneheia took place in 2000. Andersen was described as a quiet, calm and shy guy. According to a childhood friend, he was also interested in the military and war.

When the murders happened, Andersen was part of the Home Guard’s youth group. The day before the murders, one of those who were part of this group met Andersen in Baneheia.

He is said to have been sitting in Baneheia leaning against a large pine tree.

– He seemed more sullen than usual. He said he had not been given an apprenticeship, said a witness in court.

Afterwards, Jan Helge Andersen himself spoke in court. He did not agree with the presentation.

– I can’t remember being depressed, and I had room to learn. I can’t see that there should be a reason why I was depressed, Andersen told the judges.

The two best friends Stine Sofie Sørstrønen (8) and Lena Sløgedal Paulsen (10) were raped and killed in Baneheia on 19 May 2000. Jan Helge Andersen admitted at the time to having killed the youngest girl. Now he is accused of having also killed the elder.

– Said the murders were profitable

The prosecution believes he raped and killed both of them alone. He has denied that for all these years, and he still does. Andersen believes it was Viggo Kristiansen who carried out the murder of Paulsen. Kristiansen was acquitted of the murders in 2022, after serving over 20 years in prison.

The two girls were found dead on Sunday 21 May in the evening. According to a childhood friend who went to school with Andersen, he seemed completely normal in the time after the murder.

– I didn’t notice that anything was wrong, said the childhood friend.

He repeated what he also said in questioning at the time: that Andersen should have said on Monday 22 May that the murders were terrible.

He also overheard that Andersen had told his teacher that he “would have arrested those who had killed the girls, if I had shown who it was.”

– Asked if they would join in the search

The childhood friend said that he had met Viggo Kristiansen and Jan Helge Andersen in Baneheia when he was out with his father and the dog and was looking for the girls after they had disappeared.

– I asked if they wanted to join in the search, but they didn’t want to, he said in court.

The witness who had met Andersen in Baneheia the day before the murders also said that he was with Andersen on the Tuesday after the girls were found dead.

They must then have been to a swimming pool to take one five match mark five match markA military proficiency badge awarded for proficiency in military pentathlon (shooting, steeplechase, obstacle course swimming, grenade throwing and cross-country running). with the HV youth and then they also talked about the murders, according to the witness.

– I remember him talking about the terrible things that had happened and that he had helped look for them. He said he knew someone who worked for the police in Kristiansand and was sure they would find out, he said.

Andersen disagreed with what was said.

– I don’t remember taking the pentathlon mark. I don’t remember being in the swimming pool with HV either, he said.