Rape charges divide a community
Grímsey, an island on the Arctic Circle is home to around 80 people. The case has divided the inhabitants into two legions. Photo/ Þorvaldur Örn Kristmundsson
"When I was fourteen I was a child, and I was raped by a man in his sixties," writes Valgerður Þorsteinsdóttir in Kvennablaðið yesterday. Þorsteinsdóttir pressed charges last summer against a man living in Grímsey and revealed her story in an interview with local Akureyri newspaper, Vikublaðið last week. The case is now pending treatment at the state district attorney's office.
In the interview with Akureyri Vikublað, Þorsteinsdóttir describes how she was repeatedly raped by the same man from the age of 14 until the age of 17, when she finally found the courage to tell him to stop. She says that the man has claimed that they were having a love affair.
In the interview the young woman describes the people of Grímsey as being divided into two at the moment. The accused is connected to a fishing company in the island which means that the case could influence the fishing industry and therefore the settlement of this remote island.
Þorsteinsdóttir says that, as an example, the family of the accused refuse to attend the joint religious confirmation of their grandson and her nephew if she attends the event.
"The island is small and I doubt that this matter will have a happy ending," writes Þorsteinsdóttir who urges victims of violence to speak out, and asks people to take a stand against violence.
