Dolus eventualis, shaken baby syndrome
Supreme Court 3 November 2020, HR-2020-2117-A, (case no. 20-079670STR-HRET), criminal case, appeal against judgment.
A (Counsel John Christian Elden) v. The Public Prosecution Authority (Counsel Benedikte Høgseth)
Justices: Indreberg, Kallerud, Arntzen, Falch, Høgetveit Berg
The Court of Appeal had sentenced a man to two years of imprisonment for having forcefully shaken his six-week son, see section 299, cf. section 232 of the Penal Code 1902. The relevant criterion of punishment was dolus eventualis, see section 22 subsection 1 (c) of the Penal Code 2005. The Supreme Court stated that the Court of Appeal had interpreted the criterion of guilt correctly. However, the reasoning was inadequate, as it did not point at one or several evidentiary factors substantiating that the defendant had chosen to shake his son despite the knowledge that it would hurt him. The Court of Appeal's judgment was set aside.