The 64-year-old former supervisor of the Elverkær institution for neglected children in the Jutland town of Skanderborg was found guilty of sexually abusing a girl and sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Thursday.
The supervisor, who was also acquitted of abusing four other children, was also ordered by the high court in Viborg to pay 100,000 kroner in compensation and was stripped of the right to work with children.
The man had been charged with abusing five children in total – two girls and three boys – and was convicted of abusing the two girls at the district court in Horsens. He was sentenced to six years in prison in May, but the high court appeal acquitted him of abusing one of the girls.
READ MORE: New abuse case rocks Skanderborg
The man was a foster father and supervisor at Elverkær for 20 years and the abuse of the girl took place over a period of seven years, between 1998 and 2005. He was finally arrested in 2012.
The institution housed children who had been neglected and some even sexually abused by their own parents. It was shut down on 10 October 2010, but the authorities were already warned in 2002 about the institution.
In addition to being found guilty of sexually abusing one of the girls, a charge that the man had denied, the supervisor was also found guilty of weapons possession, a charge that he admitted to.
Factfile | The Skanderborg case
2002 – A mother of two boys at the institution reports the supervisor to the police for sexual assault. The police do not charge him.
2005 – A former employee at the institution says that the supervisor had told him that he had a sexual relationship with one of the girls living there.
2006-2008 – Employees at the institution report the supervisor for psychological violence.
2010 – In connection with council reforms, the supervision of the institution is handed over to Skanderborg Council, which concluded that “nothing concerning was discernible” at the institution.
October 2010 – The supervisor is charged with sexual assault after a former tenant reports him to the police. The institution closes.
May 2012 – The supervisor is arrested
March 2013 – The supervisor is charged with additional crimes, including forcing three former children to have sex with one another.
