June 12, 2020
A Norwegian court sentenced Philip Manshaus, 22, to 21 years in prison with a minimum term of 14 years for killing his teenage step-sister and opening fire at a mosque, according to BBC News.
Norway changed its minimum 10 years prison sentence policy to 14 years back in 2015 after White Supremacist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in Norway back in 2011.
The months leading up to Johanne’s murder, she sent a series of text messages to her boyfriend on June 28. “Philip talks about race and breeding. Obviously, only whites are considered human beings.” On July 1, she sent another message to her boyfriend, “Philip is so racist and hateful. I don’t feel safe.”
The day before Johanne was murdered by her step-brother, she texted her boyfriend this message: “My mother talked to my father about Philip. Then the next day he [Philip] removed the articles from the wall. Then talked to my mother. That didn’t seem real. She didn’t think so either. Philip hardly ever talks to her,” reported The Nordic Page
Manshaus murdered his 17-year-old Chinese-born step-sister Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen because she wasn’t white last August. He then made his way to a nearby mosque where he tried to open fire at worshippers inside. Manshaus was heavily armed but was overpowered by a 65-year-old retired Pakistani air force officer, Mohammad Rafiq, according to the BBC.
Mohammad pinned Manshaus down and disarmed him. A picture taken during his first arraignment shows Manshaus’s black eyes and bruising on his face from injuries he suffered at the hands of Rafiq.
Manshaus did try to film his attack on the mosque by wearing a helmet camera, but it failed to broadcast online. He cited Adolf Hitler and Breivik as his role models during his trial.
The court rejected his defense team’s argument that Manshaus was mentally unfit to stand trial. He showed no remorse during his sentencing. He even flashed the “OK” hand sign used by far-right extremists.
Feature Images via South China Morning Post