The accused 33-year-old believes he should not be punished after the frigate he was a navigator on was lost in 2018. His own explanation will therefore be central to the two-month-long trial. In Hordaland district court, five days have been set aside for his explanation in court.
– He is excited about how detailed the questions will be. It is not a given that he will be able to remember everything in detail, but plenty of time has been set aside for his explanation, and he is looking forward to giving his version of what happened and what he experienced, says defender Christian Lundin to NTB .
When the district court visited KNM Roald Amundsen on Tuesday, one of the Norwegian Defence’s remaining four frigates of the Nansen class, the watch commander was well received by his colleagues. The 33-year-old still works in the Norwegian Navy.
Christoffer Brekke, watch commander at KNM Roald Amundsen, explained about routines on the bridge of a frigate when Hordaland district court was on inspection on Tuesday in connection with the court settlement after KNM Helge Ingstad collided and sank in Øygarden. Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB / POOL
– It was a good experience to be out there, because I experienced good support from the others there, the guard told NTB via the defender on board.
– Complex
A comprehensive and detailed questioning of the warden is planned. Everything from when he got up half an hour before the watch on the bridge was due to start, until the accident happened just over half an hour later, will be the subject of a thorough explanation.
During the introductory presentations to the parties on Monday, the events leading up to the collision with the oil tanker Sola TS in the Hjeltefjorden were broken down into situational images down to single seconds. The clash itself is timed for 4.01.15 on the morning of 8 November 2018. This will be what the duty manager has to tell about.
– It is a difficult and complex field, but at the same time there are things he knows a lot about. So the biggest burden is not explaining about the technical things, it is more about being able to memorize what he experienced, says Lundin.
Extend
State prosecutor Benedikte Høgseth says the warden’s explanation must be detailed as he does not admit guilt.
– He wants to shed light on many parts of the sequence of events, and then we have to be detailed in our questioning, and it is the prosecution that asks questions first, says Høgseth to NTB.
KNM Helge Ingstad at the scene of the accident in Øygarden after the vessel collided with the tanker Sola TS on the night of 8 November 2018 and sank Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
The public prosecutor defends that a full five days have been set aside for the questioning of the warden, but allows that not all the days have to be used if they get answers to all the questions they have.
– We have thought all along that it originally had to last two, maximum three days. The prosecutor has maintained that five are necessary, but we have always believed that it was too many, says Lundin.
