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CRIME

Danish mother convicted of stabbing her nine-year-old daughter to death

A 28-year-old woman was on Thursday sentenced to indefinite detention in a psychiatric institution for killing her nine-year-old daughter.

Published: 10 February 2017 08:45 CET
Danish mother convicted of stabbing her nine-year-old daughter to death
The 28-year-old woman has schizophrenia and said she had been going through a "rough period". Photo: Colourbox
The woman admitted to stabbing her daughter in the throat and said it was a result of her mental illness. 
 
“I’ve killed my daughter. I couldn’t do it to my son. I’m schizophrenic. It’s important that you come right now,” the woman said when she called emergency line 112 according to TV2 Nord’s report. 
 
The woman said she was mentally unstable at the time of the attack and her defence lawyer presented a mental health evaluation to back her claim in court. While standing trial in Herning District Court it was also revealed that she had been institutionalised on several occasions, including in the weekend before the fatal attack on her daughter. 
 
The stabbing took place in the family’s home in Bindslev in northern Jutland while the girl’s father was out walking the dog. 
 
The woman said that she was “in a rough period” because her grandmother and dog had recently died. She stressed in court that her mental issues were “no excuse for what happened”.

CRIME

Denmark to add war crimes to criminal code

Denmark is to give international war crimes a specific paragraph in its criminal code, ending its position as one of the last European countries not to have specific laws on war crimes.

Published: 21 March 2023 11:58 CET
Denmark to add war crimes to criminal code

The government confirmed on Tuesday that it supports a motion by the opposition Socialist People’s Party (SF) to introduce a war crimes paragraph.

“I think it’s important to say first and foremost that war crimes are already illegal in Danish criminal law,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told news wire Ritzau.

“It is not written in as specific clauses in the criminal law, but all offences that are war crimes are criminal,” he said.

“But with all that said, I think that SF has an important point in saying that the time has now come for us to introduce an independent criminalisation of war crimes. I think that would send out an important message to the world, and especially to victims,” he said.

“I will therefore, when the motion is discussed tomorrow [Tuesday, ed.] say, that the government backs criminalising war crimes independently under Danish law,” he said.

Hummelgaard plans to initiate a committee to look into how laws against war crimes can be written and added to the criminal code.

The committee will also consider whether sentences for war crimes should be higher than existing sentences given from crimes such as murder and torture.

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