Tone Ingebrigtsen testifies for her husband in the trial – but the public prosecutor still demands two and a half years in prison for Gjert Ingebrigtsen

Tone Ingebrigtsen didn't say a word to her children as she entered the courtroom in Sandnes, Norway, on Tuesday morning. She sat down in silence, without greeting them, two rows in front of her family. Her husband, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 59, is in the dock in this trial . Prosecutors accuse him of years of abusing his son Jakob, the world-famous long-distance runner, and his daughter.

The trial will conclude at the end of this week; it has preoccupied the Norwegian public for weeks. The Ingebrigtsens, with their seven children, were once Norway's favorite family. There was their father, Gjert, who, without any athletic training, molded three of his sons into world-class athletes. Jakob has become the most successful, winning two Olympic gold medals in addition to titles at the World and European Championships in Tokyo and Paris . But now, in the courtroom, the family is torn apart.

On Tuesday morning, the prosecutor delivered her closing argument. She called for a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Gjert Ingebrigtsen. According to Norwegian media, the prosecutor said she considered it proven that a "climate of fear" prevailed within the Ingebrigtsen family. Since 2008, there had been no phase in the family's life in which the father's violent actions had not played a role.

In 2022, track and field athletes Henrik, Filip, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke off relations with their father and coach. The following year, they reported psychological and physical abuse in such detail in an open letter published in the Norwegian newspaper VG that the public prosecutor's office launched an investigation and ultimately brought charges against Gjert.

During the trial, the children reported several acts of violence, including allegedly hitting his then 16-year-old daughter in the face with a wet towel in January 2022. The defendant denied the allegations in court and accused his children of "pathological ambition." While he admitted that sports had taken up too much space in family life, and that he himself had been too much of a coach and too little of a father, he categorically denied any violence.

The court hoped to gain clarification from the testimony of the mother, Tone Ingebrigtsen. She had been summoned as a witness two weeks ago , but wanted to testify only behind closed doors and without the presence of media representatives. The judge granted her request. As the defendant's wife, she could even have refused to testify. The Norwegian Journalists' Association demanded that the transcript of the testimony be made available, but was unsuccessful in court.

The judge only allowed the lawyers and the prosecution to incorporate Tone Ingebrigtsen's statements into their arguments – without directly quoting her. The defense attorney for Jakob and his sister told Norwegian journalists on Monday that the mother had supported the defendant. Tone Ingebrigtsen had testified that there had been no violence in their home and that she had not witnessed any such incidents. Jakob and his sister had reacted with disappointment and sadness to the mother's statement.

The prosecutor, for her part, said that Tone and Gjert Ingebrigtsen had coordinated their statements so that the father would avoid punishment. "If the parents' statements are true, then the children's statements must logically be false." However, she doesn't believe this. Jakob Ingebrigtsen had reported in too much detail about repeated blows to the head during his childhood and his father's strict regime.

In her plea, the prosecutor painted a picture of a childhood marked by violence, pressure, and the father's outbursts of anger: "He screamed, yelled, cursed, and made derogatory remarks." The children's statements about the conditions in their parents' home were clear, especially regarding the incident in which Gjert allegedly hit his daughter with a towel.

As evidence, the prosecutor cited a message that Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly wrote to his daughter after the blow to her face. It read: "I apologize from the bottom of my heart and promise that I will never raise my hand against you again." She said there was sufficient evidence of Gjert Ingebrigtsen's guilt.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the children's lawyer and Gjert Ingebrigtsen's defense attorney will deliver their closing arguments. The latter announced that she would request an acquittal. She referred to similar court cases in the past and said: "We consider the requested sentence to be far too high for the seriousness of the case." Furthermore, there is no conclusive evidence that Gjert Ingebrigtsen's actions were criminal.

The defense attorney for Jakob and his sister said her clients' most important concern was that the truth finally comes to light. The verdict is expected to be announced this week.