Court replays calls in alleged assault and robbery case

Audio recordings from Andri Már Mortensen Birgisson’s phone were played again in court on Wednesday morning, giving a clearer account of events during the night of April 20, 2024, mbl.is reported.

The recordings were difficult to understand when they were first played on Monday. In one clip, Andri Már can be heard saying: “Stay still, stay still, stay still, don’t fucking move or I’ll kick you again.” The words that followed were obscured by interference.

Andri Már is accused, together with five others, of carrying out an aggravated assault, deprivation of liberty and robbery at the home of a Palestinian man in Reykholt in April 2024.

After telling the injured party to stay still and threatening him with further violence, Andri Már described the situation in a phone call with his fiancée, Ingunn. He said the situation had changed dramatically, that there was a “code red” situation at the scene and that he was “blacking out”.

In a subsequent call, he asked Ingunn to come quickly and said that a particular man could not accompany her because he was a “snitch”.

“Who is with you, Ingunn? Help, he can’t come, this is code red. Why don’t you get [another man]? [The first man] isn’t coming, this is code red and I’m blacking out,” Andri Már said in an agitated voice.

“I’m going to black out. If this continues like this, I’ll kill him.”

He said he could not leave and told Ingunn that the injured party had tried to escape.

“He tried to run, and I can’t… I’m just alone and abandoned,” he said before shouting in English at the injured party to shut up.

“I have him bloody inside the fucking bathroom. I need to have you on the phone, I need to talk to someone.”

The words were easier to hear in later recordings. In some of the calls, Andri Már and Ingunn discussed using the injured party’s old passport to set up his electronic identification through the Auðkenni app, an app for electronic IDs. They also discussed removing his car from the property.

Andri Már’s defence lawyer told mbl.is that Andri Már had installed software on his own phone to record calls, and that this was how police obtained the recordings.