Norway: Update on triple murder

Oslo Police are still trying to figure out the triple murder which occurred this last Sunday when a brother murdered his three sisters. Originally a brother of the murderer was quoted as saying that his brother, who functioned as head of the family, was getting psychiatric treatment. Now police think he might not have been the only murderer.

An interesting point that's brought up in the article, the brother under suspicion was under the influence of Rohypnol when he was caught. This drug is also known as the "rape drug" and causes amnesia.

This murder bears the signs of an honor murder. Contrary to popular perception, the man of the household entrusted to protect his family's "honor", is not always happy with the task. There have been cases where a brother killed his sister and then committed suicide, unable to evade his "social responsibility" but also unable to face what he's done. That a person under such pressure would go nuts, and try to avoid the memory of the murder is therefore not surprising.

Police are still unsure if the three sisters killed in their Oslo home last Sunday were victims of one or more assailants.

The 30-year-old brother of sisters Nafisa, 13, Saadia, 24, and Sobia Khan, 27, has been jailed for four weeks, charged with the triple homicide. But police have not ruled out the possibility that there may have been others involved, newspaper VG reports.

"It is impossible to say if there was one or several perpetrators. We have arrested one person but we are now going through the technical material from the crime scene," Oslo police lawyer Cecilie Gulnes told VG.

Discoveries at the scene are being checked against results of physical tests the police have done on the 30-year-old suspect who is now hospitalized at Dikemark Psychiatric in Asker.

Investigators are now trying to determine if it was possible for one person to kill all three sisters without any of them managing to escape from the large house - the sisters were found at different spots in the house.

Another facet of the investigation is whether the suspect could have managed to make his way alone to Haugenstua, where he was arrested. This distance is three kilometers and according to VG the man was under the influence of Rohypnol, when he was arrested roughly an hour after the killings were called in.

"Time wise it is possible for him to have come from the crime scene on foot, but this is something we are investigating," Gulnes said.


Source: Aftenposten (English)

See also: Norway: Pakistani kills his sisters

No comments: