Two weeks on from the first hearing in the Birna Brjánsdóttir murder case, the start of the trial has been delayed by a further fortnight.
Two-weeks-ago-yesterday, the case against Thomas Møller Olsen, the 30-year-old Greenlander who has been in custody since mid-January over the death of Birna Brjánsdóttir, was put to court. Thomas pleaded not guilty to all charges and his lawyer requested time to go over the charges in detail and work out his client’s response to them. He was granted two weeks by the court.
Today, the court in Reykjavík reconvened in the case and the defense lawyer again requested more time, as the case for the defense is not yet ready. The court granted him a further two weeks and the trial is now set to begin on May 9th, RÚV reports.
At the same time, the court extended the defendant’s custodial period to May 23rd. He has been in police custody without bail since he was arrested in January.
20-year-old Birna disappeared from central Reykjavík on January 14 and was found a week later washed up on the shoreline, assumed drowned, with a broken nose and evidence of severe blunt force injuries to the head and face.
Thomas was arrested by special forces police officers who boarded the Polar Nanoq fishing trawler by helicopter as it sailed away from Iceland.
