Society

A rapist trapped and abused a 30-year-old Belgian woman visiting Oslo for hours in a sauna boat. This week, the trial took place.

In late January, the Belgian tourist went on a city trip to the Norwegian capital. She had not booked accommodation in advance and so, upon arrival in Oslo, she went looking for a place to sleep. However, she met a 23-year-old man who claimed to have missed the train home from work. He said he could arrange a place to sleep. The Romanian man went with the Belgian tourist to the artificial island of Sukkerbiten in Oslo harbor. Several sauna boats are moored there, with a beautiful view of the fjord. And the 23-year-old Romanian had broken into these boats several times in the past to spend the night.

When he arrived there with the Belgian woman, the nightmare began. The twenty-something held the Belgian woman captive for five hours, between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m.. He tried to rape her, but failed because the woman resisted. He abused her for hours and threatened to kill her. 

Only at 7 a.m., when an employee of the sauna arrived on the scene, was the woman put out of her misery. The latter notified the police, but the perpetrator made off before they arrived at the scene. The 23-year-old Romanian was arrested a week later. He stood trial in the Norwegian court this week. The Belgian victim testified via a video connection.

The Romanian was also found to have already been convicted of rape in Sweden in 2020. There he was also convicted of theft and drug offenses. By the way, when he was arrested in Oslo, he also had drugs in his pocket.

The 20-year-old was charged with deprivation of liberty and attempted rape. He was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison. The 234 days he spent in pretrial detention will be deducted from that. He must also pay the victim 12,000 euros in damages.

(SR for Tagtik/Source: VG - Nettavisen/Illustration picture: Photo by Eirik Skarstein on Unsplash)