Violent woman sentenced to treatment in Denmark

On February 11, the Qeqqa District Court ruled in the case of a 27-year-old woman who has committed a number of acts of violence and other crimes in Sisimiut.

She was charged with 10 different counts of violence, threats, vandalism, theft and violation of public authority in a period from March 2024 to June 2025.

The 27-year-old woman pleaded guilty to some of these counts, and the court found her guilty of all of them. The result was a sentence for treatment in a Danish psychiatric hospital based on the woman's mental illness.

Her violent behavior greatly affected the staff at a particular institution in Sisimiut.

The woman was convicted of hitting an employee on the head, hitting another employee on the hand, tearing the hair of a third employee and throwing a kitchen knife at a fourth.

She was also convicted of violence, threats, vandalism and theft in various shops in Sisimiut. The most sensational was an episode in Brugseni, where the woman was convicted of punching or pushing a girl who was only three years old at the time.

The woman also assaulted another woman at the victim's own address. The court found it proven that she pushed open the door, knocked her over and kicked her.

The convicted woman is schizophrenic and suffers from delusions, the psychiatric department concludes. She has been declared insane and therefore unfit for a regular sentence in an institution.

Disagreement over the right sentence

The woman herself accepted in court that she should receive a treatment sentence. However, she believed that the treatment should take place in Greenland and not Denmark.

The woman's defense attorney argued that she should stay in Greenland, referring to the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, the Qeqqa District Court found that the woman should go to Denmark because the appropriate conditions for treating her exist there.

The court reached this conclusion based on the medical opinions. It was also considered that the woman's violence was unmotivated and directed at people she did not know.

The 27-year-old woman's treatment sentence means that she must stay in a hospital in Denmark for an indefinite period. This is usually Aarhus University Hospital in this type of case.

When there are significant improvements in the woman's condition, she will one day be able to be discharged via the psychiatric ward at Queen Ingrid's Hospital in Nuuk.

However, the woman has appealed the district court's ruling, and thus the Greenland High Court will also have to deal with her case. A date has not yet been set for this.