Four men went on trial this week for the murder in August 2023 of a young man from Hønefoss who’d already been subjected to harassment and threats for months. One of those charged in the fatal shooting of Jonas Aarseth Henriksen has since admitted to murder.
The highly public harassment of Henriksen included tagging around Hønefoss that accused the 30-year-old of being an informant, and he reported it to police but there wasn’t much follow-up. Henriksen, a popular figure on social media who ran his own company, also reported cases of vandalism and arson, and police have later apologized for not investigating more thoroughly. Henriksen had also reported vandalism and threats received at a new home to which he’d moved in Tønsberg, and wrote accounts of his ordeal on social media that set off public sympathy and support for him.
A full police investigation was finally launched after Henriksen was found shot and dead in his vehicle near a remote cabin at Nes i Ådal. Police believed Henriksen had been lured to the site, with a prosecutor referring to the shooting in court on Tuesday as nothing less than an “execution.”
The four men now on trial, ranging in age from 29 to 34, have admitted to being behind all the threats and violence prior to the shooting in August 2023. The 34-year-old has admitted to ordering the vandalism and violence, the motive for which remains unclear, but claims they never meant to kill Henriksen.
The 29-year-old who admitted to shooting Henriksen outside the hytte claimed in court on Wednesday that he’d only meant to cause injury but ended up shooting him twice, once in the leg and once in the back. Henriksen reportedly made it back to his car where he later died, while his assailant fled the scene. He was arrested in Rena a month later, and the 34-year-old a week after that. All four men face lengthy prison terms.
NewinEnglish.no staff