Insufficient reasoning led to the annulment of a conviction for abuse of a child

The defendant was convicted in the District Court and the Court of Appeal of sexual activity with a child under the age of 14 and of involvement with depictions of sexual abuse of children. The Supreme Court set aside the part of the Court of Appeal’s judgment that concerns sexual activity.

According to the indictment, the incident allegedly occurred on one occasion between 2013 and 2016. The injured party was born in 2008. The indictment is based on the aggrieved party’s statements given in a specially facilitated interview in 2023.

In its assessment, the Court of Appeal placed significant weight on the fact that the aggrieved party had previously told others that she had been abused. However, the Court did not address the fact that these earlier statements were considerably less detailed than the later statement on which the indictment is based.

The Supreme Court notes that it is not unusal for children to refrain from disclosing abuse that has occurred, or to provide their account gradually. Nonetheless, the Court of Appeal failed to sufficiently explain how it assessed the significance of the indictment relying on a statement given many years after the alleged incident and containing more details than the aggravated party's previous statements.

On this basis, this part of the Court of Appeal’s judgment was set aside.

One justice voted for setting aside on slightly different grounds.

The judgment provides guidance on the requirements for the assessment of evidence and the drafting of reasoning, and in this respect supplements the ruling HR‑2025‑458‑A, handed down earlier this year. It also contains general comments on the use of specially facilitated interviews as evidence.

Read the judgment from the Supreme Court (Norwegian only) (PDF)

Area of law: Criminal law. Section 299 of the Penal Code. Reasoning. 

Key paragraph: 29–32, 37, 55–56, 62–63, 70–71

Justices:  Arntzen, Bergh, Steinsvik, Sæther, Lund