Jan Helge Andersen döms för båda morden: ”Inga tvivel”

The Baneheia murders (Norwegian: Baneheia-drapene) was a double rape and murder, and a miscarriage of justice, that occurred in Norway on 19 May 2000. The victims were two girls, 10-year-old Lena Sløgedal Paulsen and 8-year-old Stine Sofie Austegard Sørstrønen. They were found raped and killed in the Baneheia area in Kristiansand. The murders received massive media attention in Norway in the early 2000s. Two men were convicted (in 2001) for the murders: Jan Helge Andersen (born 1981) and Viggo Kristiansen (born 1979). Andersen was convicted of the murder and rape of Sørstrønen, but acquitted of the murder of Paulsen. The conviction of Andersen was based on a DNA match from the scene and a confession to the killing of Sørstrønen. Kristiansen was convicted of rape and murder of both girls and sentenced to 21 years of containment in 2001 and 2002. While Andersen confessed killing one of the girls, Kristiansen always claimed he was innocent. In the decades following the initial trials, Kristiansen applied for a retrial many times. His seventh application in 2021 was successful. In February 2021 Kristiansen's case was reopened and he was released from prison. On 21 October 2022, Attorney General Jørn Maurud announced that the prosecution would submit a request for the acquittal of Viggo Kristiansen in the reopening case, based on the new investigation carried out by the Oslo police district. On 15 December 2022, Kristiansen was acquitted in the Borgarting Court of Appeal. The verdict against Kristiansen is widely considered as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in Norway's recent history.