A survivor of Norway’s July 22 attacks has testified in court that mass killer Anders Behring Breivik whooped with joy when gunning down dozens of young people on Utøya Island last summer. The right-wing extremists shook his head in denial as witness Tonje Brenna, 24, told the Oslo court how she heard “cries of joy” as he opened fire at the Labour Party youth camp.
Brenna, the leader of the Labour Party’s youth wing, was organising a meeting when she heard what she thought were firecrackers in the distance. “I told somebody on the phone: ‘Someone has a bad sense of humour, they’re fooling around,'” she said.
Once she realised that people were being shot, Ms Brenna hid behind a rock with an injured girl. “We told ourselves that tomorrow we will be at home, we can watch the Saturday films with our parents and eat popcorn. But there was a feeling of complete abandonment and of hopelessness – nobody could do anything. We were cold and wet and covered in blood. I thought it was just a question of time before I was hit,” she said.
“I’m sure I heard cries of joy,” Ms Brenna told the court. “If I had to spell it out, it would be woo-hoo.” Breivik, who testified in April that he didn’t smile or laugh during the attack, shook his head at this part of Miss Brenna’s testimony, according to a BBC correspondent.
The 33-year-old, who killed eight people earlier in the day after setting a bomb outside the government buildings is Oslo, claimed 77 lives in total in the dual attacks that rocked Norway to its core. He claims his targets were “legitimate” in his effort to rid Europe of multiculturalism.
Breivik is attempting to prove to the court that he is sane and that his actions were dictated by a political doctrine. Two court-appointed psychiatric reports have come to contradictory conclusions about the killer’s mental state.
The Norwegian national admits the killings but denies criminal responsibility, claiming his actions were “gruesome but necessary”.