“No one was surprised that this happened,” a source with close knowledge of the Afghan murder suspect, Nawid Bayan (35), tells Document.

Nawid Bayan was expelled from Norway in 2021 following a conviction for violence. This was confirmed to NRK by his own defence counsel, Arvid Sjødin.

The expulsion was never carried out. For an extended period, the Norwegian authorities have maintained a temporary suspension of forced returns to Afghanistan. Bayan remained in the country – without a registered residential address during the past several years.

On Sunday afternoon, shortly before 3.30 p.m., the police were alerted by the Emergency Medical Communication Centre (AMK) to a seriously injured woman at a private residence in Nærbø, in Hå municipality. All emergency services responded. The woman, in her thirties, was taken to Stavanger University Hospital. Bayan was arrested at the scene.

On Monday afternoon, she died from her injuries.

The charge was first upgraded from grievous bodily harm to attempted murder, and subsequently to murder. On Tuesday afternoon, Sør-Rogaland District Court remanded him in custody for four weeks. The prosecution’s request for a ban on correspondence and visits throughout the entire remand period was granted.

The police have confirmed that the two were in a relationship.

He was already charged with violence against her

Ten days before her death, Bayan had been arrested for assaulting the same woman.

– There is a criminal case dating from 17 July in which the suspect in the murder case is charged with assaulting the injured woman. Both the injured party and the suspect were interviewed in that case. The case was under investigation when the new incident occurred, says Police Prosecutor Fredrik Martin Soma of the Sør-Vest Police District.

Bayan was released.

Eleven days later, the woman was dead.

Afghan refugee Nawid Bayan charged with murder of Norwegian convert girlfriend

Convicted since 2008

His criminal record stretches back almost two decades.

In 2008, Bayan received two community service sentences. He punched and kicked a fellow student at an upper secondary school. He made death threats and fired a gas pistol at a security guard during a school dance for tenth-year pupils.

In 2017, he was sentenced to one year and eight months’ imprisonment for violence against his former wife. He was acquitted by the Gulating Court of Appeal.

In 2019, he was sentenced to one year and two months’ imprisonment, including for grievous bodily harm. The conviction concerned repeated violence against a former girlfriend – a different woman from the one who has now died. He spat in her face. He was also convicted of breaching a restraining order by seeking her out and smashing a window at her home.

In 2020, he was made subject to a restraining order prohibiting contact with his former wife, her new partner and their child. In 2021, he was expelled from Norway.

Document has spoken to several sources who were closely acquainted with Bayan.

– No one was surprised by this. There has been complaint after complaint, and many people have known that Nawid has been violent. But the police have not taken it seriously, one source tells Document.

Expelled, but still in Norway

Expulsion means that a person must leave Norway and is prohibited from re-entering the country. In practice, this presupposes that the person can actually be returned.

For Afghans, that is largely not possible. Following the Taliban’s takeover of power in August 2021, the Immigration Appeals Board (Utlendingsnemnda, UNE) and the Norwegian authorities have maintained a temporary suspension of forced returns to Afghanistan. The expulsion decision remains in force, but it cannot be enforced.

The result is a group of foreign nationals with final expulsion orders who remain in Norway indefinitely. According to NRK, Bayan has not had a registered residential address during the past several years.

This presents an obvious monitoring challenge: a person whom the Norwegian authorities have formally decided must leave the country, but who can neither be removed nor located through the population registers.

Defence counsel: “No violence occurred”

Bayan denies criminal liability.

– He is absolutely adamant that no violence took place, says defence counsel Arvid Sjødin.

Speaking to Stavanger Aftenblad, Sjødin also emphasised his client’s mental health.

– He is not doing well. He wants medical treatment, and we have requested that. It is important to make clear that no violence occurred in the relationship, Sjødin said before it became known that the woman had been declared dead.

So far, Bayan has given only an initial statement. He has declined to be interviewed again.

– The suspect has still not been interviewed again, as he has not wished to provide any further explanation beyond the initial statement he gave in connection with his arrest. This means that the police must continue to exercise restraint in the information they release, says Police Prosecutor Soma.

Crime scene investigators are still working at the scene. A post-mortem examination is under way.

The family’s counsel for the aggrieved parties, Brage Nordgår, briefly described the situation:

– The family is in shock. They regard this as a difficult and grotesque case.