Danish war veteran charged with murdering his parents with axe
The 43-year-old former soldier who was arrested last summer on charges that he murdered his parents and then stored their bodies in his car was formally charged with murder on Thursday.
East Jutland Police said that the man will also face charges of improper conduct with his parents' corpses.
Police announced on Thursday that criminal charges will now proceed against the 43-year-old. According to police, the reason it has taken over a year to move forward in the case is due to prosecutors’ request that the man be held in a secured psychiatric unit indefinitely.
“When there is an assertion as serious as indefinite placement in [the psychiatric unit], it needs to go through a number of different authorities and that has taken some time,” senior prosecutor Birgitte Ernst said in a police press release.
Ernst added that the “very extensive investigation” added to the long processing time in the case.
The 43-year-old has been held in Sikringsafdelingen, Denmark’s only secured psychiatric ward, since his arrest. He was originally diagnosed as “acutely mentally ill or in a similar state”.
READ ALSO: Danish war veteran denies murdering parents
The former soldier is reported to have suffered with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his active military duty. He is said to have served in Bosnia during the 1990s Yugoslav wars.
According to press reports following his arrest on July 12th, 2016, the man appeared confused and upset at his initial court appearance.
Police say that the man killed both of his parents in their home in the town of Uggelhuse near Randers. He allegedly struck them numerous times in the head and body with an axe before then wrapping their bodies in plastic sacks and blankets and putting them in his vehicle.
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East Jutland Police said that the man will also face charges of improper conduct with his parents' corpses.
Police announced on Thursday that criminal charges will now proceed against the 43-year-old. According to police, the reason it has taken over a year to move forward in the case is due to prosecutors’ request that the man be held in a secured psychiatric unit indefinitely.
“When there is an assertion as serious as indefinite placement in [the psychiatric unit], it needs to go through a number of different authorities and that has taken some time,” senior prosecutor Birgitte Ernst said in a police press release.
Ernst added that the “very extensive investigation” added to the long processing time in the case.
The 43-year-old has been held in Sikringsafdelingen, Denmark’s only secured psychiatric ward, since his arrest. He was originally diagnosed as “acutely mentally ill or in a similar state”.
READ ALSO: Danish war veteran denies murdering parents
The former soldier is reported to have suffered with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his active military duty. He is said to have served in Bosnia during the 1990s Yugoslav wars.
According to press reports following his arrest on July 12th, 2016, the man appeared confused and upset at his initial court appearance.
Police say that the man killed both of his parents in their home in the town of Uggelhuse near Randers. He allegedly struck them numerous times in the head and body with an axe before then wrapping their bodies in plastic sacks and blankets and putting them in his vehicle.
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