The man who killed five people and caused several serious injuries in Kongsberg last year has been charged with five murders.

In the indictment, the prosecution authority announced claims that Espen Andersen Bråthen, 38, would be sentenced to mandatory mental health care. The man was charged with five murders, as well as causing serious injury to several people in Kongsberg, on the night of October 13 last year. Bråthen was armed with bows and arrows as well as stabbing weapons. Some of the killings took place indoors, in the homes of the victims.

Bråthen was arrested more than half an hour after the attack began inside the grocery store.

31 victims in the case

In addition to the death toll, there were 26 victims in this case. The case was brought before the Buskerud District Court in Hokksund on 18 May. The court has set aside a month to process it.

Since the attack on October 13, Bråthen has been admitted to a closed psychiatric ward by forced hospitalization. The three forensic psychiatrists who have assessed him have concluded that he has a very distorted state of mind tonight. This means that he may be insane and therefore cannot be punished.

Court decides

It is psychiatrists Harald Brauer and Helge Haugerud and specialist psychologist Knut-Petter Langlo who have carried out Bråthen’s forensic psychiatric assessment.

It is up to the court to make the final decision on whether or not Bråthen was insane when he killed five people and injured a number of others in central Kongsberg last fall. Previously, the term psychotic was used at the time of a crime, but it was amended by amendments to the Criminal Code in 2020.