Gjert Ingebrigtsen, the father and former coach of star Norwegian runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, was found guilty of assaulting his younger daughter Ingrid, but the court limited itself to a suspended sentence without imposing a real prison sentence. At the same time, he was acquitted of the charges of violence against Jacob himself due to lack of evidence. UNN writes about this with reference to TheGuardian.
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According to the publication, the father of two-time Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen "was found guilty of hitting the younger sister of Norwegian runner Ingrid with a wet towel and sentenced to 15 days of probation." However, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, who coached his son Jakob until the Tokyo Games in 2021, was previously acquitted of the same charges against Jacob.
Ingrid, who left the family home at the age of 15 after a series of incidents, also received compensation of 10,000 kroner (about a thousand dollars) by court order.
Prosecutors demanded that Gjert be imprisoned for two and a half years for what they said was a "regime of physical and verbal abuse" against Jakob and his younger sister Ingrid that lasted for ten years. This came after testimony from Jakob, who stated that he "was the victim of domestic violence by his father, who beat him with his fists and feet, and also controlled him."
At the beginning of the six-week trial, Jakob claimed that when he was eight years old, his father beat him on the head "many times" after teachers at school complained about him. Jakob claimed that another incident occurred around the same time: he was playing outside on a scooter when his father "jumped on him and kicked him in the stomach."
The court also heard information that Gjert used threats, coercion and violence against Jaykon's younger sister, Ingrid, including "hitting" her in the face with a wet towel in 2022 after refusing to allow her to play outside with friends.
In court, Gjert admitted that he was sometimes demanding when training his three sons, Jakob, Henrik and Philip, to win major international titles. The 59-year-old also admitted that he "once threw the family PlayStation out of a second-story window after an argument." However, he denied all allegations of abuse and cried when he told the court that he had never hit anyone in his life.
He also confessed that he regrets the breakdown in his relationship with Ingrid, who left the family home at the age of 15 after the towel incident.
I miss her every day. She's the last thing I think about when I go to sleep at night, and the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. The loss is huge