A ‘mentally ill’ asylum seeker from Somalia was sentenced to two years in prison for raping a woman in the garage under an airport arrivals lounge in Norway.
The rape occurred at Oslo Airport Gardermoen in March 2016 when a woman, in her late twenties, was sitting on the floor by the lift in the parking garage waiting for her boyfriend’s evening flight to arrive.
The Upper Romerike District Court heard that the 20-year-old Somali asylum seeker, who was housed in a care home for young asylum seekers with “mental difficulties”, was “giving her compliments” and asked for her number and Facebook details.
After the girl declined his advances, he tried to kiss her. She tried to push him away, but he held her tight and forced her fully to the ground where he raped her as she cried out for help, reports TV2.
Eventually, a passerby arrived at the scene and the rapist ran away. The Somali was arrested later that day at his youth asylum home after being identified from CCTV footage.
During interrogation, the migrant admitted to the rape charge, but in court denied the admission, claiming that there were “communication problems” with the translator.
The court considered whether the Somali was mentally competent at the time he raped the woman. Immediately after the arrest, he was assessed by a psychiatrist to see if he were “psychotic”, monitored for a further four days, and was found to not be suffering from any form of psychosis.
One therapist, who assessed the asylum seeker after the rape, even remarked that he seemed “normal”.
The judgement concluded that “the court is convinced that the defendant was sane at the time the acts,” but the rapist received a shorter sentence because of an alleged mental illness.
Initially, the court contemplated a sentence of one year and nine months, but that was considered too lenient. The asylum seeker must also compensate the victim 120,000 Norwegian Kroner.
The Somali’s defence lawyer, Per Ove Marthinsen, said he would speak to his client to see if he intends to appeal the sentencing.
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