The death of 30-year-old Maren Sømme has raised questions about Norway’s immigration and justice systems after it emerged that the man charged with her murder had previously been convicted of violence and ordered to leave the country.
Sømme died at Stavanger University Hospital on Monday afternoon after suffering serious injuries at a home in Nærbø. Police had been called to the property on Sunday afternoon following reports that a woman in her 30s had been badly injured.
Her boyfriend, an immigrant in his 30s, has been charged with murder. He denies attacking Sømme and has pleaded not guilty, according to his defence lawyer, Arvid Sjødin, who said his client claimed that her injuries resulted from health problems.
Police attorney Fredrik Soma said investigators believed it was more likely than not that Sømme had been subjected to serious violence, adding that the district court had agreed there were reasonable grounds for suspicion.
The suspect has been remanded in custody for four weeks and banned from receiving letters or visits.
Police were already investigating him over an alleged assault on Sømme before her death. A case was opened on July 17th after he was accused of attacking her. Both were questioned, but the suspect was subsequently released.
The man also has a history of domestic violence cases. He was sentenced in 2017 to one year and eight months in prison for assaulting his former wife, although the conviction was overturned on appeal.
In 2019, he received a sentence of one year and two months for offences including repeated violence against another former girlfriend. That conviction led to an order for his deportation. He was also subjected to restraining orders in 2020 covering his former wife, her new partner and their child.
However, he remained in Norway because authorities had temporarily suspended forced returns to his country of origin. The deportation order was therefore never carried out. Although he reportedly had no registered Norwegian address in recent years, he continued to live in the country.
The case has prompted renewed scrutiny of why a man ordered to leave Norway after a domestic violence conviction was still in the country when Sømme was killed.
