Help sought for mystery man in Norway

A foreign man found helpless in the snow in Norway, without any memory of who he is or how he got there, says he was robbed and sexually assaulted.

Speaking English with a Slavic accent, a man known only as "John Smith" because he does not remember his real name is proving a mystery for Norwegian police.

The tall, young amnesiac was found helpless in the snow near a carwash in Oslo last December. How he got there, and from where, he has no idea.

"What apparently has happened is that I was robbed, I was for sure sexually assaulted, and then I was thrown onto a street in Oslo," he told AFP on Wednesday.

Police refused to comment on the more personal aspects of his testimony, but it is the violent and sexual crime unit that has been put in charge of the investigation.

"Maybe I was too trustful. Maybe I let some people too close to me and they had some fun with me," said "John Smith".

The man, with blue eyes and dark blonde hair, speaks good English with an Eastern European accent and understands Czech, Slovak, Polish and Russian.

Which of these is his native language is anyone's guess, but he says he "thinks and dreams" in English.

Aged about 20, "John Smith" was in a very weak condition and poorly dressed for the severe Norwegian winter when discovered in December.

"I was already blue in face," he said.

"I had on my wrists very big, very bloody traces of plastic strips that they use to tie up cables."

Police initially turned to international police organisation Interpol and more than a dozen nations to compare fingerprints and DNA with their databases to unravel the mystery, but in vain.

Law enforcers took the extra step on Tuesday of releasing the man's photo to the public, in the hope of finding new clues.


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Source: AAP

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