Norwegian knife killer of police officer remanded on Saturday; funeral of policeman held on the day

The 44-year-old Norwegian man who fatally knifed a 32-year-old Greek police officer was jailed pending trial on Saturday, after testifying before an investigating magistrate in Thessaloniki.

Citing a life-long history of sexual and psychological abuse, the man said he did not intend to kill anyone and expressed his condolences to the policeman's family. He is being prosecuted for manslaughter (committed & attempted) as well as for illegally carrying and using weapons. The man has a criminal record in his home country, yet he was residing in Greece over the last few years.

The incident took place at a bar in Thessaloniki late last Thursday night, when a verbal argument broke out between the Norwegian and the policeman's best man. The police officer, who was off-duty at the time, intervened to contain the situation, only to receive a fatal blow to the neck by a palm knife while his best man received a lesser injury to the leg by the same weapon.

The police officer's funeral was held earlier on Saturday at a church in Tagarades, near Thessaloniki.