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The father of the Norwegian track and field superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen should go to prison for two and a half years for “a regime of repeated abuse” that spanned a decade, prosecutors have told a court in Norway.
Summing up the state’s case, the prosecutor Angjerd Kvernenes said that Jakob and his sister, Ingrid, had suffered physical and mental abuse at the hands of their father and former coach, Gjert, which began when Jakob was seven years old.
In her closing arguments, Kvernenes reminded the court that Jakob, who won the Olympic 1500m title in Tokyo before winning 5,000 gold in Paris, had described how he had been punched and kicked by his father when he was still at primary school.
“Jakob has explained about fear, about unpredictability, and about how the repeated blows to his head when he was seven and a half years old have affected him further in his upbringing,” she said. “The extent has been so great that Jakob has lived under a regime of repeated abuse over time. It has affected him. He has been affected by this continuous insecurity, fear of violence and fear of other offences.”
Kvernenes pointed out that on another occasion Jakob said he had been threatened with being dragged out of a car and beaten to death unless he agreed with Gjert.
“There is no doubt that there was a culture of fear in the home as early as January 2008 when Jakob was seven years old and Ingrid was one and a half years old,” she added. “The starting point in these cases is unconditional imprisonment.”
According to the indictment, Gjert is also alleged to have used threats, coercion and violence against his 18-year-old daughter, Ingrid, including “whipping” her in the face with a wet towel in 2022 after he had refused to let her play outside with friends.
Kvernenes reminded the court that Ingrid has also alleged that Gjert had also made her cry by screaming at her while they were in a car together – and then refused to return home until she promised not to tell anyone about the incident. She said there was “no doubt” that Gjert had also used abusive language towards his daughter and poked her on the chest and upper arm on several occasions.
Gjert denies all the charges. Speaking outside court on Tuesday his attorney Heidi Reisvang said the defence would call for an acquittal when they make their closing arguments on Wednesday.
“We believe that the sentence imposed in this case is far too high,” she told the Norwegian newspaper VG. “We believe this should not have been a case for the court in the first place.
“We have heard an extremely large number of witnesses. We cannot see that there have been any witnesses who have substantiated from the outside that there has been fear among the children, something the court must find evidence of in order to convict for a so-called regime of abuse.”
The case is due to finish on Thursday, with the verdict expected at some point later in the summer.
