A 35-year-old man denied criminal guilt as his murder trial opened in Trøndelag District Court. He faces charges for the killing of 20-year-old Linea Bjørnnes.
Prosecutors played a police recording from December 17 last year. The audio captured the defendant speaking hours after Linea was found lifeless in her Stjørdal home.
"I went far over the line, I lost control," the man told police in the recording.
Much of the audio proved difficult to understand. The man alternated between heavy breathing and crying. Police repeatedly instructed him to breathe calmly.
He admitted pushing Linea twice with force. But he claimed he wouldn't have done so if clothes hadn't been lying on the floor.
From the witness box Tuesday, he repeated this account about pushing her in her bedroom.
"It was quite moderate. I didn't intend to hurt her," he told the court during the trial's first day.
On Wednesday, he buried his head in his hands and covered his ears as the recording played.
The defendant told the court events "happened quickly" and that he struggles to remember everything.
He described taking a scarf, twisting it, and placing it between her teeth. He then put toilet paper in Linea's mouth.
The indictment states she died from brain oxygen deprivation after being suffocated with a scarf and toilet paper.
His defense attorney Kjell Myrland asked if he intended to kill Linea.
"Absolutely not," the defendant responded.
When asked if he believed he caused her death, he didn't directly answer.
According to prosecutors, court-appointed experts concluded the defendant wasn't psychotic during the incident.
On Tuesday morning, the court heard an emergency call from December 17 last year. A neighbor and friend reported the incident.
"He asked me to come over, should I go check? You need to come quickly," the friend told emergency operators.
"He said everything went black for him and that she had no pulse."
Linea's neighbor testified about leading the now-accused man from her bedroom.
"I tried to understand what happened. Then I heard about paper in her throat. I had to run in and check if there was paper in her throat," the neighbor said.
Both the neighbor and his friend attempted CPR in Linea's bedroom.
Two doctors testified Wednesday about the rescue efforts. Physicians from St. Olavs Hospital also took the stand.
"She wasn't breathing at all. We saw her heart beating but there was no breathing activity," an air ambulance senior doctor stated.
Pathology specialists Øystein Størkersen and Tina Syvertsen Overrein said the presumed cause of death was brain damage from oxygen deprivation.
Police had responded to an incident involving Linea and the man hours before she was found dead at her Hegra home. Officers had also visited her address the previous day.
Linea's family attends the trial, which continues through Friday. Their support lawyer Gunhild Oftedal said sitting through proceedings proves difficult for them.
"They've heard how their dear daughter was brutally killed in a brutal way. They react to the defendant downplaying his role," Oftedal said.
Linea's mother and older sister will give testimony Thursday.
The defendant's contradictory statements about moderate pushes while describing extreme violence raise questions about his account of events.