Helge Fossmo

Infobox_Person
name = Helge Fossmo


residence = Kumla prison
other_names =
birth_date = 1971
birth_place =Kristinehamn
death_date =
death_place =
death_cause
known =
occupation = pastor
spouse = Heléne Fossmo († 1999) Alexandra Fossmo († 2004)
children = three
website = http://www.fossmo.se/
footnotes =

Helge Arnold Fossmo (1971- ), a pentecostal pastor sentenced to life imprisonment for solicitation of the Knutby murder in Sweden in 2004.

Life before Knutby

Helge Fossmo originated from the village of Björneborg, close to Kristinehamn in Sweden. His parents were Norwegian. The family was not particularly religious, but when he was about ten years old Helge joined the scouting organization of the Mission Covenant Church in Björneborg. Not long before he turned twelve he was born again. [Sjöberg, 62.] [cite web|url=http://www.fossmo.se/svar/060415-medmanniska.html#5 |title=Svar till 'Medmänniska'|author=Helge Fossmo |accessdate=2007-04-09 |year=2006 |language=Swedish] He went to highschool in Kristinehamn. He volunteered in a christian youth café. At age 17 he met Heléne Johansson, his future wife. [Nordling, 60.] In 1989 he joined the Pentecostal church of Kristinehamn, where also Heléne was a member. After graduation, he studied in Karlstad to become a science teacher, but he dropped out. For a while he worked as a teacher in his old school in Björneborg. [Sjöberg, 63.]

In the spring of 1993 Helge Fossmo was involved with Jaspis. In Kristinehamn this was a small group inspired by Ulf Ekman's Livets Ord, part of the Word of Faith movement. After a few months, however, he left Jaspis and rejoined the pentecostal church. He was then employed as a youth pastor. In May 1995, he organized a march for Jesus. The christian newspaper Dagen published Fossmo's experience of xenoglossy. [cite news |author=Sören Sehlberg |title=Talade i tungor en fredagkväll på stan |url=http://www.flashback.info/showpost.php?p=808061 |format=HTML |work=Dagen |date=1997-05-28 |accessdate=2007-04-09 |language=Swedish ]

Fossmo met Åsa Waldau for the first time in August 1993. The main pastor Claes Frankner had invited her to Kristinehamn from Knutby. His son Samuel was already an adherent of Waldau's and moved to Knutby in 1994. The Fossmos moved there in August 1997 with their two children (a third child was born in Knutby).

Work in Knutby

In Knutby, Fossmo and Waldau started in 1997 a month-long training school, which has been held three times a year since then. It attracted young Christans from all over Sweden, some of which would move to Knutby permanently. Fossmo also started the missionary foundation "Aid for Nations". At first it tried to be active in Estonia. Later this foundation organized bible schools in Coimbatore (India) and in Hongkong.

Fossmo's [http://web.archive.org/web/19990422114734/hem.passagen.se/fossmo/links3.html web page with Christian links] is dominated by Word of Faith (Livets Ord, Morris Cerullo, Kenneth Hagin, Benny Hinn, John Avanzini, Kenneth Copeland), but also includes Pentecostalism (IBRA Radio, Kensington Temple, Oral Roberts) and others (Willow Creek Community Church, Ray Stedman). The web page also shows strong support for the State of Israel. Later, Fossmo was photographed with the Israeli ambassador, Zvi Mazel. [cite news |url=http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=211603 | title=Pastoren møtte omstridt ambassadør | work=Verdens Gang | date=2004-01-26 ]

The Fossmos moved to a house next to Åsa Waldau, and Helge was spending most of his time with her. [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/199/20040528/ |title=Knutby - programmed to kill |work=The Local |date=2004-05-28 ] Reading the Bible, they found that the metaphorical interpretatation of Bride of Christ as the Church is not explicit in the New Testament texts. Fossmo told Waldau that if the Bride were a person, it would have to be her. [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/210/20040604/ |title=Shots ring out in Knutby again |work=The Local |date=2004-06-04 ] Waldau then bought a gold ring with seven diamonds. On March 29, 1999 he was the only other person present at the ceremony where Åsa Waldau was betrothed to Jesus. She became the Bride of Christ, and also assumed a new name: Tirsa. Fossmo said in court that he had to mediate Jesus to her, by satisfying her sexually with his hands,cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/480/20041007/ |title="I was a sex slave" |work=The Local |date=2004-10-07 ] which Waldau denied. [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/511/20041014/ |title=Pastor's mistress "remembers" new evidence |work=The Local |date=2004-10-14 ]

Murders, marriages and trials

On December 18, 1999, Fossmo found his wife Heléne dead in the bathtub.cite news |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article720386.ece |author=Jonathan Tisdall |title=Pastor's first wife was poisoned |date=2004-02-01 |work=Aftenposten |accessdate=2007-04-09 ] Although there was a hole in her skull and although there was a toxic concentration of dextropropoxyphene in her blood, her death was ruled an accident.

Within a few months Helge Fossmo had a new wife, Alexandra, Tirsa's youngest sister. In June 2001, Fossmo fell ill in an undiagnosed disease. He was nursed by Sara Svensson, who moved into his bedroom. She divorced her husband a year later, but Åsa Waldau did not approve of Fossmos liaison with her. She was put under church discipline and shunned - in Fossmo's bedroom, where she said she was a sex slave. Pastor Fossmo then coveted his neighbour's wife, Anette Linde. They started an affair in the autumn of 2003. [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/217/20040611/ |title=Knutby - mistress betrays pastor |work=The Local |date=2004-06-11 ] Soon thereafter, Sara Svensson started getting anonymous text messages, which she regarded as prophetic. Together with Fossmo's verbal instructions, these messages convinced her to try to kill Alexandra Fossmo. In the early morning of November 8, 2003, she attacked Alexandra with a hammer. Alexandra woke up and resisted the attack. She called her husband who was out in his car (with his lover, Mss. Linde), as well as some church elders. Sara Svensson was sent away from the community. The assault was not reported to the police, and the Fossmos took a plane to a Bible school in Hongkong. Secretly, Fossmo and Svensson kept in touch. The anonymous text messages also resumed. Svensson was instructed to buy a handgun (not an easy task in Sweden). She was told to shoot Daniel Linde too. The shootings took place in the early morning of January 10, 2004. Alexandra was shot dead in the head in her bed. Daniel Linde was shot in the chest and in his mouth, but he managed to call emergency services and he survived.

The district court sentenced Fossmo to life imprisonment for solicitiation of murder of Alexandra and attempted murder of Daniel Linde, but acquitted him of the murder of Heléne.cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3941453.stm |title=Priest gets life for 'SMS murder' |publisher= BBC |date=2004-07-30 |accessdate=2007-04-09 ] cite news |url=http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1565933,00.html |title=Priest's murder plot sickens |publisher=SAPA-DPA |date=2004-07-30 |accessdate=2007-04-09 ] cite news |url=http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2004/07/31/story856109022.asp |author=Mattias Karen |title=Priest convinced nanny to murder with ‘texts from God’ |publisher=Irish Examiner |date=2004-07-31 |accessdate=2007-04-09 ] Fossmo appealed the convictions and the prosecutor appealed the acquittal, but the verdict was upheld. [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/620/20041112/ |title=Appeals court upholds Knutby verdict |work=The Local |date=2004-11-12 ] Fossmo's appeal to the Supreme Court was denied. [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/805/20050105/ |title=Supreme Court will not hear Knutby case |work=The Local |date=2005-01-05 ] He wrote without success to the Chancellor of Justice. [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/928/20050203/ |title=Knutby pastor could lose guardianship of children |work=The Local |date=2005-02-03 ] He then appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/2835/20060111/ |title=Knutby pastor demands European hearing |work=The Local |date=2006-01-11 ] but on February 13, 2007 the judges decided not to hear his case. [cite news |author=Stefan Lisinski |url=http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?a=626239 |title=Fossmo nekas ny prövning |work=Dagens Nyheter |date=2007-03-08 |language=Swedish ]

Admission of guilt

At the end of August 2006, Fossmo admitted guilt in an interview with TV4 and said that he would put his cards on the table for the police. [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/4752/20060831/ |title=Knutby pastor admits murder |work=The Local |date=2006-08-31 ] [cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/4765/20060901/ |title=Experts dismiss Knutby pastor's confession |work=The Local |date=2006-09-01] Fossmo also had a new lawyer, Peter Althin. In March 2007, after three interviews, the police decided not to reopen the case. [cite news |url=http://www2.unt.se/avd/1,1786,MC=1-AV_ID=596992,00.html |title=Ingen ny Knutbyutredning |work=Upsala Nya Tidning |date=2007-03-28 ]

On July 20, 2007, Helge Fossmo got married in prison.

Notes

References

* Nilsson, Mårten. "Pastorerna i Knutby: En autentisk kriminalroman." Uppsala: Succéförlaget abc 2005; ISBN 91-6312200-6.
* Nordling, Jan. "Knutby: Sanningen och nåden." Uppsala: Hallgren & Fallgren 2004; ISBN 91-7382788-6.
* Sjöberg, Thomas. "Barnflickan i Knutby: dramadokumentär." Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand 2005; ISBN 91-4621146-2.