Breivik’s graphic testimony leaves families sobbing

In testimony too graphic for any parent to hear, Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik shocked an Oslo courtroom yesterday as he calmly described hunting down teenagers on an island summer camp.

As his words rolled out, survivors and victims’ relatives of the Jul 22 massacre hugged and sobbed, trying to comfort each other.

The 33-year-old left out no detail from his rampage, explaining how he shot panicked youths at point-blank range.

A total of 69 people, mostly teenagers, were killed on Utoya island.

Breivik said he did not anticipate his victims’ reactions. “Some of them are completely paralysed. They cannot run. They stand totally still. This is something they never show on TV. It was very strange.”

Breivik has admitted to setting off a bomb on July 22 in Oslo, killing eight people, before opening fire at the governing Labour Party’s annual youth camp on Utoya island.

However, he has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, saying his victims had betrayed Norway by embracing immigration.

The main goal of the trial, now in its fifth day, is to figure out whether Breivik was sane or insane.

Breivik spoke calmly about the shooting spree, beginning with the moment he took a small ferry to Utoya. He was disguised as a policeman, carrying a rifle and handgun. He also brought water because he knew he would get a dry throat from the stress of killing people.

His first two victims were Monica Boesei, a camp organiser, and off-duty police officer Trond Berntsen, a security guard.

“My whole body tried to revolt when I took the weapon in my hand. There were 100 voices in my head saying ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it,’” said Breivik.

But he did. He said he pointed his gun at Berntsen’s head and pulled the trigger. He shot Boesei as she tried to run away.

Then, as they lay on the ground, he shot them both twice in the head.

The first shot was “extremely difficult”, he declared, saying he then entered a “fight-and-flight modus” that made it easier to continue the killing.

Breivik said he could not remember large chunks of the 90 minutes or so he spent on the island before surrendering.

Still, he recalled some of the shootings in great detail, including inside a cafe where he mowed down young teenagers as they pleaded for their lives.

Some were frozen in panic, unable to move even when Breivik ran out of ammunition. He changed clips. They did not move. He shot them in the head. Others pretended to be dead. He shot them too.

Breivik continued his rampage around the island, luring youth from their hiding places by telling them he was a police officer who was there to protect them. When they came out, he gunned them down. He said his goal was to kill all of the nearly 600 people on the island.