Prosecution claims Bodom suspect killed friends in jealous rage; defence disagrees

Gustafsson pleads innocent on three counts of murder after court session

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Professing his innocence, Nils Gustafsson arrived at Espoo District Court on Tuesday to hear the indictment in which he is charged with the murders of three of his friends during a camping trip at Bodom Lake near Helsinki in June 1960.
      At the trial he listened as the prosecution presented its case. Prosecutors Heli Haapalehto and Tom Ifström said that Gustafsson had been motivated by jealousy over the fact that one of the girls had a boyfriend, and sexual frustration, after his advances were rejected.
      According to the scenario, he had sealed the doors of the tent when the three others were inside, cut holes in the cloth, and severed the lines holding up the tent so that it collapsed. After that, Gustafsson allegedly stabbed the others and struck them with a stone.
      The prosecution said that after the other three were dead, Gustafsson tried to make the crime scene look like the killings were done by an outsider, finally lying down among the bodies to wait for the first passers-by.
     
Gustafsson’s defence lawyers Riitta Leppiniemi and Heikki Uotila insisted that their client was innocent.
      They also said that the act in question would fall under the definition of manslaughter, for which the statute of limitations has run out.
      The defence also denied that Gustafsson had any motive to harm his friend, his friend’s girlfriend, and his own girlfriend.
      The defence was also critical of shoddy investigative work by the police in 1960, saying that the crime scene was not properly sealed off, the tent was taken away too soon, and the photographs that were taken were of poor quality.
      The defence also noted that there were traces of blood and semen at the scene of the crime, which were not from any of the four.
     
Gustafsson himself reiterated his innocence at a brief press conference after the day’s hearing.
      He also said that the latest process, which began in the spring of last year, has been very rough on him.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Prosecutors call 45-year-old Bodom triple murder premeditated and brutal (5.8.2005)
  More witnesses come forward in Bodom triple murder investigation (8.8.2005)

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