Clarification of the penalty for removing an infant from the care of the child welfare services

The penalty for violating section 261 subsection 2,0 cf. subsection 1, of the Penal Code was one year and two months of imprisonment. The case concerned a mother who in 2017 took her infant to a country in North Africa after the child welfare services had initiated a care order case, and stayed there for more than two years. Relevant in the sentencing was the fact that the removal had been carried out by an unfit person, the duration of the removal and the age of the child. It was also aggravating that the child had been taken abroad and that the abduction was not an act of impulse. A mitigating factor was that the mother had made an unreserved confession. A small deduction was also granted for the lengthy procedure.

Read the whole judgment (Norwegian only)

Area of law: Criminal law. Sections 261 and 78 (f) of the Penal Code. 

Key paragraphs: 25, 40, 42

Justices: Falkanger, Normann, Kallerud, Bergsjø, Ringnes