Block 5 case: Why prosecutors are seeking a detention order

This article describes an older murder case from Ilulissat.

We are back in Sermersooq Circuit Court on Monday morning, where the Block 5 case is now on its fourth day and is nearing its conclusion.

Since this morning, we have heard the 42-year-old man's statement to the police in October 2024. He said that he was familiar with the 20-year-old, whom he had seen near the Salvation Army. But both then and today he denies having killed him.

At the end of the interrogation, the police asked if he experiences becoming aggressive when he drinks. It has happened, he said, but usually there is a good atmosphere.

Convicted of murder in 2018

We also hear about a murder in Ilulissat in 2016, for which the accused man was convicted in 2018.

The verdict states that he and another man hit the victim in the head with a pot and a sharp object while his friend filmed it. They left the victim hanging from a wire from a fall log. In addition to the murder, the now 42-year-old was therefore convicted of indecent handling of a corpse.

But he was not considered insane at the time. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and was released in 2023.

While in prison, the 42-year-old accused has caused concern with some strange text and drawings. The text is about God, judgment and punishment, among other things, but it is difficult to find meaning in the material.

Statement: 42-year-old is schizophrenic

The defendant, now 42, was admitted to the R3 forensic psychiatric ward in December 2024. R3 is the ward in Aarhus that specializes in mentally ill criminals from Greenland. Here, the doctors concluded that the man is schizophrenic.

According to the forensic psychiatric statement, the 42-year-old said that he had been dead, but God had brought him back to life. However, he generally speaks incoherently, the statement notes.

It also appears that he has threatened other people and seems to have very violent mood swings. He has indicated to the staff that he has looked at himself in the mirror and experienced a strange man looking back at him.

Recommends detention sentence

Both the doctors in Aarhus and the Danish Medical Council recommend that the man be sentenced to detention in a psychiatric hospital in Denmark if he is found guilty.

The defense attorney asks the 42-year-old man whether he believes he will get the help he needs in Aarhus. Now, for the first time in the case, the defendant says something in court:

– Maybe, he replies.

Now we just need the closing remarks and, of course, the district court's verdict.