A Danish court sentenced a former journalist (47 years old) at the newspaper Ekstrabladet to three and a half years in prison, after a previous life sentence for sexually assaulting children.
The wife reported it to the police.
The case began when the journalist's ex-wife received a call from Americans calling themselves "child sex predators," who informed her about her husband's online behavior. She then informed the police and subsequently filed for divorce after his arrest following a 25-year marriage. The police, in cooperation with the wife, planned to arrest the accused journalist and search the house. The accused journalist was arrested in April 2021, and the case against him began in Roskilde in August of this year. The defense requested the release of the accused until the start of the verdict, but the judges believed that he should remain in custody for the sake of the victims.
Indictment
The defendant faced a 25-page indictment containing hundreds of charges of indecent assault against at least 40 children, including six counts of rape, although it did not actually occur. However, because the child victims were under 12 years old at the time of the assault, it was deemed legally equivalent to rape, so he was convicted in four cases on rape charges.
In addition, the accused possessed 24,121 pictures and videos showing naked children or children being abused in various ways. The accused also secretly recorded a large number of videos in his home of his children’s friends, as well as of his children while they were naked while using the toilet or bathtub, in addition to recording videos of himself touching them in prohibited places.
Demanding indefinite imprisonment
During the trial, the defendant claimed that the so-called child sex offender hunters were actually part of a rival network of child molesters who wanted to kill him, but no evidence was presented to support this claim.
The prosecutor had demanded indefinite imprisonment, but with six votes in favor and six against, the defendant narrowly escaped an indefinite prison sentence.
The prosecutor also demanded a minimum six-year prison sentence for the defendant, but the court did not agree to that. In addition to the three-year and six-month prison sentence, the defendant was also sentenced, according to a number of criteria, to be prohibited from communicating with children and young people under the age of 18, and he is not allowed to live under one roof with children and young people under the age of 18, in addition to obligating him to pay compensation in varying amounts to a number of victims as well as the costs of the case.
Mental and psychological examination of the interested party
In a mental examination, the accused was described as severely sexually deviant, yet he was assessed as not being mentally ill. However, the medical examination board stated that he should be sentenced to life imprisonment. The accused told the doctors that he did not believe any children had been traumatized by his actions, as he had “only filmed some videos” and that it was the press’s fault for covering the case, and therefore the children were now in a state of shock.
In addition, the defendant hoped that a member of the public would protest on his behalf during the trial because he himself did not believe that the videos he recorded were vulgar, yet he said that he regretted his actions and that he believed they were wrong.
The accused apologizes for his actions.
During the trial, he also apologized to his children, whom he hoped to see again one day, and said that the press coverage of the case did not cover all aspects and that he feared he would not be able to get a job as a journalist again after serving his sentence.
