Baneheia case

The Baneheia case was a notorious double child murder that took place in Baneheia in the city of Kristiansand, Norway, on May 19, 2000. The victims, "Lena Sløgedal Paulsen" (aged 10) and "Stine Sofie Sørstrønen" (aged 8), were raped and killed by Viggo Kristiansen and Jan Helge Andersen [The Baneheia Sentence (RG-2002-751) - [http://www.grimstveit.no/jakob/files/text/baneheia.html full text] ] . Viggo Kristiansen was in 2002 convicted of both murders and of raping both girls, and sentenced to 21 years in prison (containment, see below)http://www.aftenposten.no/english/article275273.ece] . Jan Helge Andersen was convicted of the murder of Sørstrønen, but acquitted of the murder of Paulsen. He was also convicted of raping both girls, and sentenced to 19 years in prison.

According to the verdict, Viggo Kristiansen was the leading force behind the crime. The court established that Kristiansen had an IQ of 83 [http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=6260760] , that he "is to be considered dangerous", has "paedophile tendencies", "small or no possibility of improvement" and that it is "a reasonable danger that he might again commit violent acts and sexual abuse" [http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/02/06/310980.html] . He was not given an ordinary prison sentence, but rather sentenced to "containment" (the Norwegian legal term is "forvaring"), a form of special protective custody which means he may be held in prison indefinitely and is subject to release only at the discretion of a judge after his sentence is served. "Containment" is roughly comparable to a life sentence in many other European countries. Kristiansen is serving his sentence at Ila Prison, while Andersen is serving his sentence at Skien Prison.

While Jan Helge Andersen gave a full confession and accepted his guilt, Kristiansen denied any involvement in the crime during his trial.

The Baneheia case received massive media attention in the early years of the 21st century.

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