Death of Silje Redergård
Silje Marie Redergård (26 June 1989 – 15 October 1994)[1] was a Norwegian girl who was killed by two boys in the village of Rosten near Trondheim on 15 October 1994.[2] The boys, aged five and six, beat, kicked, stoned and stripped Redergård naked, leaving her in the snow to die of hypothermia. The boys were directed to undergo psychological evaluation, as Norwegian law did not allow the punishment of minors under the age of 15.[3] The names of the boys were not publicly released.
On 18 October 1994, pay television channel TV3 suspended airing of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series) amid debate regarding the impact of fictionalised violence in television programming aimed at children.[4] Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's Prime Minister at the time, commented that "Norwegians should think twice before allowing such "free market" violence to be broadcast by commercial networks."[5]
The case has been compared to the murder of James Bulger, which took place in the United Kingdom twenty months earlier.[6][7]
References
- "Tiller kirkegård". byblis.net (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
- "The Norway town that forgave and forgot its child killers | James Bulger murder | The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- Karacs, Imre (20 October 1994). "Something died with Silje". The Independent. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
- Press, Associated (20 October 1994). "NORWAY PULLS THE PLUG ON `POWER RANGERS'". Deseret News. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ""Power Rangers' show faulted in girl's brutal playground death". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- James, Erwin; MacDougall, Ian (20 March 2010). "The Norway town that forgave and forgot its child killers". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
- Lusher, Adam (9 February 2018). "James Bulger murder: How failure to deal with killer Jon Venables was the latest episode in a tragedy shaming a nation". The Independent. Retrieved 10 February 2018.