After four tough days in the Sermersooq Circuit Court, the jury on Tuesday afternoon is ready with its decision on the 42-year-old defendant in the Block 5 case.
The Circuit Court finds it proven that the 42-year-old killed a 20-year-old man in Block 5 in Nuuk in October 2024 by hitting him several times in the head, probably with a paving stone.
The now convicted man then left his victim in a storage room, where the deceased was found on the morning of October 4, 2024. Since then, the murder has been one of the most talked about crimes in Greenland.
The defendant pleaded not guilty, but DNA traces and fingerprints left in blood residue at the storage room in Block 5 helped convince the judge and the two jury members of his guilt.
Previously convicted of murder
The 42-year-old man was previously convicted of a similarly violent murder in Ilulissat in 2016, which resulted in a seven-year sentence in prison.
This time, things were different, as the man was sentenced to indefinite detention in a psychiatric hospital in Denmark. This was also the measure that Deputy Prosecutor Aprilia Jespersen argued for.
Since his last murder conviction, the man has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He had already been held in surrogate custody at the hospital in Aarhus prior to the case in the district court, and is now on his way back there.
However, the last word has not been said in this case. The convicted man and his defense attorney, Marie Louise Frederiksen, are appealing the district court verdict to the Greenland High Court.
The 42-year-old was also charged with assaulting a woman in an unrelated case from 2024. However, he was acquitted of that charge after none of the witnesses called were able to provide any information.
