Moring defence seeks clarification on knife blood evidence

Mika Moring’s defence wants to investigate claims by Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation that a folding knife linked to the case may not contain human blood, Yle reports.

The knife is a key piece of evidence in the trial, in which Moring is accused of the manslaughter of Saara Arva and aggravated deprivation of liberty in the Pohjois-Savo District Court.

Defence lawyer Kaarle Gummerus said the findings by the National Bureau of Investigation’s forensic laboratory must be clarified. An earlier statement from the laboratory said there were observations and indications of human blood on the knife.

According to the statement, no DNA result could be determined from samples taken from the knife because of a technical malfunction.

“Now the laboratory director says it was a zero result. It is somewhat confusing. The prosecution will probably have to clarify what this is about,” Gummerus told Yle.

Prosecutor Antti Lampén alleges that Moring killed Arva with the folding knife, which was found near her remains in Vesanto, in Pohjois-Savo. The knife is one of the prosecution’s central pieces of evidence.

National Bureau of Investigation forensic laboratory director Teppo Talka told Yle that the result was not caused by a technical malfunction. He said it was a zero result because there was so little sample material.

Lampén said he could not yet assess how Talka’s comments would affect the proceedings, if at all. He said he would need to examine whether the claim was accurate.

The prosecutor nevertheless expects Talka’s comments to be raised during the trial, even though they were made outside the courtroom.

The trial began last Thursday and continues this week. The prosecution is seeking a prison sentence of nine and a half to 10 years. Moring denies the charges.