Pages

Monday 16 April 2012

Norway Hero Haunted By Utoya Survivors

Michelle Clifford, senior news correspondent
Nine months after Anders Bering Breivik opened fire in a killing spree that shocked the world, one of the first rescuers on the scene has revealed he is haunted by the eyes of the survivors.
Allen Jensen leapt into his boat after hearing shouts and gunfire on the island of Utoya.
He plucked survivors from the chilly waters into which they had plunged in a desperate attempt to escape Breivik's gun.
"They had big black eyes, terrified eyes," Mr Jensen said.
"The first two I pulled into the boat lay on the floor screaming: 'He is shooting at us'.
"They told me to lie down. But I couldn't steer the boat and lie down. It was terrifying."
Mr Jensen spoke as Breivik went on trial in Norway after admitting killing 77 people in the shooting on Utoya and a bomb explosion in Oslo on July 22 last year.
But nine months on those who witnessed his violence have expressed frustration that his radical views will be given publicity via the hearing which is being covered by journalists from all over the world.
"I don't like him getting Speaker's Corner," Mr Jensen said.
He said he still wakes at night thinking of what Breivik did to so many young people.
"Last year I was a tough guy. But this has affected me. This has gone to my heart.
"When I think of children suffering I can't bear it."
Mr Jensen said he needs to see Breivik stand trial and plans to go to court at least one day in the coming weeks.
He said he knows he will find it difficult to sit in the same confines as a man who delivered such carnage.
He added: "I think it will be good for me seeing him there. I have to face him to go on with my life, to move on."
The notion of moving on resonates powerfully with so many touched by Breivik's violence.
For some that comfort will come only with the knowledge that he has been put behind bars indefinitely.
But for Adrian Pragon - who was shot on Utoya - the most important thing is to understand his would-be killer's state of mind.
"I feel so shocked at the two different documents," he said in reference to conflicting psychiatric reports into Breivik's mental state.
Experts differ on whether he is sane or not and judges at the court will have to decide whether his future should revolve around punishment or treatment.
"If he is insane it is important for me that he is cured so in time he can understand what he has done, the pain he has caused and regret it," Mr Pragon said.
Breivik has never denied the killings but has claimed they were a necessary part of a "crusade" against multiculturalism and the spread of Islam.
He denies terrorism charges.
Mr Pragon said that what Breivik stands for cannot be ignored.
"This is the time to discuss his politics. To understand why he did what he did. We need to confront these issues. We can't ignore them. If we do there may be another attack."
And that is something people right across Norway simply cannot bear to contemplate

No comments:

Post a Comment