High Court ruling: Stabbing suspect should not be in custody after all

On Monday afternoon, the Greenland High Court heard an appeal case, the outcome of which would determine the future of a 32-year-old man convicted of assault.

The man was sentenced to detention by the Sermersooq Circuit Court on October 31 after a stabbing in Nuussuaq. But on Monday the High Court changed his sentence from indefinite detention to six months in prison.

Since the man has been detained for about a year and a half, he has long since served his sentence and more. He could therefore be released immediately.

The circuit court had sentenced the man to detention after finding him guilty of stabbing another man with a knife. The incident took place outside Pub Nuan in Nuussuaq on June 30, 2024.

The man had pleaded not guilty in the district court, but failed to appeal the question of guilt to the high court. Thus, the high court only had to consider what was the appropriate measure.

The prosecutor presented psychiatric statements about the 32-year-old's mental state. Prosecutor Andrias Kjølbro and defense attorney Naja Joelsen disagreed about how much weight should be placed on a particular formulation in a statement from the Danish Council of Forensic Physicians.

– A lot needs to happen before you can impose detention, emphasized defense attorney Naja Joelsen.

Bizarre act of violence

The prosecutor, of course, also took note of the 32-year-old man's criminal record, which includes a string of violent assaults, several of them committed in Maniitsoq.

It turned out that the man had repeatedly choked and bitten his victims. He had bitten various people on the face, chest, hand and foot.

– It is a bizarre act of violence, the prosecutor stated.

One of the assaults led to a conviction for attempted murder in 2016. The current case from Nuussuaq in 2024 also started as a case of attempted murder, but the man was only charged and convicted of assault.

And he ended up getting a more common measure for violence:

– A unanimous High Court finds, regardless of the assessment of the Danish Council of Forensic Medicine, that in this case there is not sufficient basis to impose detention, said the judge.

The court emphasized that the measure for the crime the man had committed did not exceed 1 year in prison.

The defense attorney believed that the case had only become a custody case because the prosecution initially considered the man's actions to be attempted murder. That is not correct, the prosecutor replied.

The 32-year-old man was also sentenced to pay 18,000 kroner to the victim of the stabbing.

At the same time, the perpetrator himself may be entitled to money. He will probably receive compensation since he has spent too long in prison in relation to his final sentence.