Andri’s younger brother unable to continue testimony in Reykholt case

Andri Már Mortensen Birgisson’s younger brother was unable to continue giving evidence in court on Wednesday after becoming highly distressed, mbl.is reported. Several breaks were taken during his testimony before he ultimately said he did not feel able to go on.

The man gave evidence before the District Court of South Iceland in the case concerning events in Reykholt. He said the weekend’s events were largely blurred in his memory, but that he had seen injuries on the alleged victim and noticed a “horrible smell of blood”.

He said he had hesitated to report what happened to police because he feared his brother. He also described feeling unable to leave the situation himself, much like the alleged victim.

The younger brother is accused, together with five others including Andri, Andri’s fiancée Ingunn and her father Sigurður, of entering the alleged victim’s home, depriving him of his freedom, carrying out a particularly dangerous assault, using unlawful coercion and committing robbery. The alleged victim is a Palestinian man in his sixties who holds Maltese citizenship.

He told the court that Andri called him at 4am on Saturday, April 20, 2024, waking him and asking him to drive Ingunn to Reykholt. Audio recordings of Andri’s calls were played on the first day of the main proceedings.

“Andri calls me, saying that someone is trying to murder him. I set off, in a bit of shock,” the brother said in court.

He picked up Ingunn on the way to Reykholt and said she was extremely distressed and not in the right state of mind.

“I did not know what I was going to do. I thought I was going to pick up Andri and leave,” he said.

When they arrived in Reykholt, he said, “there was a very big blur”. He explained that he remembered little of the night or the weekend as a whole, describing his memories as though someone had been holding their hands over his ears.

The next thing he remembered was Andri asking him for his car keys shortly after his arrival. Late on Saturday evening or early on Sunday morning, he said he told his brother he needed to take his pain medication, which he had to take but did not have with him.

He then went into town, saying the medication had been an excuse to get away from Andri. He went to a friend’s home and immediately went to sleep.

“I just wanted to get away from this,” he said.

When he woke on Sunday after hearing a phone ring or an alarm clock, he said he experienced what he described as an anxiety or fear attack and immediately returned to Reykholt.