– Can I ask you something? Is this an interrogation, Bråthen asked after prosecutor Andreas Christiansen had asked him in detail about shooting with a bow and arrow inside the Coop store in Kongsberg on 13 October last year.
The 38-year-old man was obviously tired after more than two hours of questioning by the prosecutor in Buskerud District Court in Hokksund on Wednesday. District Court Judge Liv Synnøve Taraldsrud explained to Bråthen that he, as the accused, could refuse to answer questions.
– Then I choose not to explain myself any more, Bråthen said.
– Today, the prosecutor wondered.
– Throughout the route, Bråthen replied with reference to everything that happened that fateful night when five people were killed and several were injured.
Got tired
There is therefore a certain tension related to whether the 38-year-old will continue the explanation when the court is set on Thursday morning.
Defender Fredrik Neuman explained that the client was tired of the prosecutor’s interrogation. He reckons that Bråthen will resume the explanation on Thursday.
– It is important for the information of the case, and I think it is also important for his own part that he does it, but it is not decisive for the case.
Monotonous black
The public prosecutor carefully went through the actions from Bråthen went out of his apartment on the West Side in Kongsberg in the basement on the evening of 13 October.
According to Bråthen himself, he had 80 arrows in the holster on his thigh, and he shot a number of arrows at random people he encountered on his way.
– What was the purpose, the prosecutor asked point after point.
– To kill, Bråthen replied monotonously.
– Intense
The interrogation was interrupted before questions were asked about the most serious points in the indictment. The five murders in Hyttegata in happened with a knife after Bråthen had left the arrows and the bow on his way.
– I am very happy that he started to explain himself, and that he is willing to do so. I think everyone gets tired of sitting in a trial that is so intense, so it is only natural that he wanted to interrupt, says public prosecutor Christiansen.
– It is not crucial, but I hope he will explain himself further, he says.
Seriously ill
The prosecuting authority has notified the claim for transfer to compulsory mental health care. In his remarks to the prosecutor’s introductory speech, Neuman said that it is a seriously ill man, without insight into his own situation, who has been brought before the court in Hokksund.
– He goes out that night with the intention of killing people in the belief that he will be reborn, says Neuman, who in court pointed out that he as a defender has given the prosecution’s notified claim his full support.