Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen interrupted his training camp in Sierra Nevada and flew back to Sandnes for one reason: to be present in the courtroom when his mother, Tone Ingebrigtsen, took the witness stand in the case where her husband, Gjert, is accused of abusing two of their children, both physically and psychologically, over several years.
“I ask for respect that this is difficult,” Tone began when Judge Arild Dommersnes asked if she wanted to testify.
Tone had exercised her right not to provide a statement in police questioning, so there was great anticipation about whether she would testify in court.
The two alleged victims in the case are her own children, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Ingrid Ingebrigtsen, who have both told the court in detail about their experiences of growing up in fear, surveillance, and control from their father. Mother Tone is not part of the indictment and has been referred to by her children with some affection throughout the trial, but also as an oppressed and silenced woman.
“My mom has been very good and caring. But very restricted, where she hasn’t had much power or control herself. In my childhood and upbringing with mom, I felt safe. But that safety quickly disappeared when we were all present, because she became so oppressed,” Jakob Ingebrigtsen said when he testified in the first week of the trial.
Younger sister Ingrid responded from the witness stand when asked about her expectations for her mother’s testimony later in the trial. “After everything that has happened, I don’t really have any expectations for her,” she said. “But if she doesn’t choose to tell the truth, support me, and believe in me, then I don’t want people like that in my life.”
That was part of the backdrop for Tone Ingebrigtsen’s day in court. On her left sat the man she has been in a relationship with for almost 40 years, since she was 16 and he was 21.
On her right sat several of her seven children. Not only the two victims, Jakob and Ingrid, but also European champion Filip Ingebrigtsen, flanked by eldest son Kristoffer and Jakob’s wife, Elisabeth.
It was hard not to see the symbolism of it all, as she literally sat squeezed between “the ones I love,” as she phrased it.
“My family has received a lot of negative attention in the media over the past three years. Now I think it’s enough with the media’s feast at the expense of my family. I want to testify, but only with closed doors,” Tone said.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen has been present in court during the trial (Lise Aserud/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)
Throughout the trial, which started on March 24, the hearings have been conducted in open court. Gjert Ingebrigtsen and his defense lawyers attempted several times to close the trial to the press and the public, while his victimized children succeeded in their wish to give the public full access to the court proceedings.
The court justified this, in part, by the fact that the defendant had participated in the TV series Team Ingebrigtsen and had thus sought the spotlight himself.
But this time, Tone Ingebrigtsen issued the court an ultimatum: if you want to hear my version of what happened, it will be without the press being present.
Judge Arild Dommersnes reminded Tone Ingebrigtsen that the court had allowed the press to be present throughout, even when the doors had been closed to the public, and emphasized that the press had, without exception, respected the reporting ban.
But Tone Ingebrigtsen remained firm.
After several breaks, where all parties had their say and the press was prevented from reporting on the proceedings, the judge decided that Tone Ingebrigtsen would have her way.
He did not hide the fact that it was a problematic decision and made it clear that the court “did not appreciate being put in a coercive situation.” However, under the law, testimony can be exempted from public access when there are special circumstances, and when the testimony can significantly contribute to the clarification of the case.
In the end, this consideration became the most weighty for the judge, despite protests from both the press representatives and the victims’ lawyer for several of the Ingebrigtsen children, Mette Yvonne Larsen.
“This is a woman who has sought public attention to a significant degree for 20 years, so I have no understanding for this,” Larsen told TV 2 of the decision.
A researcher who has followed the trial, as well as Filip Ingebrigtsen, Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen, and Jakob’s wife Elisabeth, were also asked to leave the room at Tone’s request.
A representative from the press expressed the desire to appeal the court’s decision with suspensive effect.
“You can appeal, but there will be no suspensive effect,” replied Judge Dommersnes.
Thus, no one other than the court’s actors will have insight into what one of the most central witnesses in the trial has to say, a witness who has also been physically present during several of the episodes that form part of the charges against Gjert Ingebrigtsen.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen faces up to six years in prison if found guilty (Ane Hem/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)
Gjert, who has only been referred to as “the defendant” by Jakob in court, faces up to six years in prison if found guilty. The indictment states that he “subjected son Jakob to physical and psychological abuse from 2008 to 2018,” while the alleged criminal acts against daughter Ingrid are said to have occurred from 2018 to 2022.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen stated during his testimony on day 2 of the trial that “mom stands in an impossible situation and has no control over her own life.”
“What do you think about the fact that Tone has not testified to the police?” prosecutor Angjerd Kvernenes asked.
“I think it’s something the defendant has decided. I don’t think she has many thoughts about it herself.”
“Has Tone witnessed any events?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of events?”
“Verbal abuse and threats of being beaten up. And she has been present a large part of my life, in a daily life of fear and terror.”
“But how do you feel about Tone not wanting to testify about things she has seen?”
“I think it’s difficult. Because I know what kind of victim mom has been, and is, of this violence. She stands in an impossible situation and has no control over her own life. But she is an adult. And in some way, one must stand by the choices they make.”
Younger sister Ingrid testified in court that at one point, when she was in foster care after the incident where Gjert Ingebrigtsen hit her with a towel, she asked her mother if she herself had been subjected to violence by the defendant.
“I asked her (Tone). She told me I had to shape up and come home, and that he (Gjert) hadn’t hit me with his fist. It wasn’t so bad that he had hit me with his fist. Then I saw it as an opportunity to ask her, has he been violent with you? She answered, ‘Not with his fist.’ I took that as a yes, but not directly with his fist,” said Ingrid.
Court commentator Leif Welhaven, who has followed the entire trial for Norway’s largest newspaper, VG, believes everyone understands that Tone Ingebrigtsen is in a difficult position.
At the same time, he finds it problematic that the public is excluded from such a central testimony in a case that has been open all along.
“It’s a crucial piece that will not be known. You get a central hole in the explanation, and it will be hard to get closure on the case when there’s such an incompleteness. There’s a reason why the main principle in court proceedings is openness. Because the patchwork we’re getting now is fundamentally problematic,” Welhaven said.
He believes Judge Arild Dommersnes was forced to choose between what he saw as the lesser of two evils.
“The alternative to saying that the press should be allowed to be present was that she (Tone) would have just left, and that would have made the trial even more incomplete. There was no optimal solution for anyone. Tone hasn’t testified to the police before and has been present with the family all along. She’s at the core of the case and one of the most central witnesses. Now many central questions in this case will remain up in the air for the public,” Welhaven concluded.
The trial against Gjert Ingebrigtsen continues until May 16.
(Top photo by Heiko Junge/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)