Appeals court cuts domestic abuse sentence to 18 months

Landsréttur, Iceland’s appeals court, sentenced a man to 18 months in prison for serious abuse of his then wife and their two daughters, mbl.is reported. The ruling reduces a two-and-a-half-year sentence handed down by the Reykjanes District Court in May last year.

The abuse took place from October 2018 to the end of November 2024. The man was convicted of physically and emotionally abusing his wife over several years and threatening her. Their daughters repeatedly witnessed the abuse, and he was also convicted of harming their mental health and welfare.

According to the court’s judgment, he hit his wife in the face, kicked her in the stomach, grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against a wall. He also hit her on the head while she was holding their younger daughter. He threatened to kill and beat her, threatened her with a knife, and repeatedly insulted her. Among other threats, he said he would kill her and skin her alive.

The woman said he had told her she would be deported if she left him or went to the police. She felt trapped. When he became angry, she would take the girls into the bathroom and lock the door, sometimes hearing him rummage in a drawer where kitchen knives were kept.

The investigation began in April 2024, after the woman sought a divorce and contacted police because she feared the man’s reaction. She and the girls then spent two months at a women’s shelter.

The man denied the allegations. He said he had never abused his wife and that expressions which sounded like threats were not intended as such. He attributed photographs of her injuries to accidents or said she had caused them herself. He also claimed the allegations arose because he had wanted to divorce her. Asked about a recording containing sounds of blows, he said in court that he had hit a radiator; to police, he had said he hit a kitchen counter.

The district court found the woman’s account consistent and credible, and said it was supported by audio recordings, messages from her phone and photographs of her injuries. It considered the man’s account not credible.

The older daughter told investigators at Barnahús, a child-friendly centre for interviews, that her father had shouted at the sisters, pulled their hair and arms, and kicked them on the bottom. The district court said her account could not by itself establish physical abuse, given her young age and the lack of supporting evidence. The man was acquitted of physically abusing the girls, a finding the prosecution did not appeal. He was convicted of emotional abuse, including abusing their mother in their presence.

Compensation to the woman was reduced from 3.5 million to 2.5 million krónur. The daughters’ awards remain unchanged: 1.5 million krónur for the older girl and one million for the younger one. The man must pay half the appeal costs, with the remainder covered by the state.