Norway: Murder after overdose

This seems a convoluted story. The boyfriend of a woman who died of a drug overdose is now suspected of killing the woman who had injected the drugs and seriously wounding her boyfriend. The suspect is a Pakistani-Norwegian who had already probably left the country.

This might be a "fit of revenge", but there might also be cultural issues here. In Arab society, a murder, whether intentional or accidental, is always avenged with a return murder of somebody in that same "group". The only other solution is a "sulkha" - making peace between the two sides - which usually involves a hefty amount of "ransom money" being paid.

He claims to have killed her in self defense, though he did show up with a gun at her house, so it's hard to see where the self defense came in.

Norwegian police were checking flights to Pakistan from European airports after charging a young Norwegian man of Pakistani background with the murder of a 41-year-old woman in Oslo over the weekend.

The young Norwegian-Pakistani man was the boyfriend of a 20-year-old woman who died of a drug overdose last week. The 41-year-old murder victim had in turn been charged with negligent homicide after allegedly injecting the 20-year-old with heroin.

That set off what police believe was a fit of revenge on the part of the overdose victim's boyfriend. He allegedly made threats against the 41-year-old during the weekend and ultimately had a confrontation with her and a male companion Sunday night.

The woman allegedly threatened him with a knife and a hypodermic needle, while he had a gun. It all ended with multiple shots being fired that killed the woman and severely injured her male companion.

Lawyer John Christian Elden, who represents the overdose victim's family, said he has talked with the young man, who already has fled Norway. Elden said he advised him to turn himself in.

The overdose victim's boyfriend reportedly claims he shot the 41-year-old woman in self-defense.

Source: Aftenposten (English)

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