In a Facebook post from earlier today, Hafþór Júlíusson, aka The Mountain, published an email correspondence between his lawyer and a person who was named as a witness in an article published last weekend by Fréttablaðið–in which the mother of his child accused him of years of physical abuse.
“I want to ask people to put themselves in my shoes,” he wrote. “It is not easy to argue with the mother of your child through the media—especially when our eight year old daughter gets mixed into this.”
The accusations of violence
In the article his ex girlfriend Thelma Björk Steimann gave a detailed account of how throughout their two year relationship Hafþór repeatedly assaulted her. How his overbearing jealousy made him demand she cut all ties with her male friends and that he once sent her to the hospital after pushing her down the stairs at the Hverfisbarinn nightclub in Reykjavík—something Hafþór claims is pure fabrication.
“Supposedly this event took place in 2008, when our relationship had become really bad,” Hafþór wrote. “I had never heard about this before I read about it in Fréttablaðið. If Thelma was ever pushed down the stairs at Hverfisbarinn or any other place, then it was done by someone else but me.”
Libel case against his ex
He proposes that just as likely she fell down the stairs, as she had a problem handling alcohol.
“It is possible she just lost her footing and fell,” he wrote. “I find it very likely that everything in the interview is pure fabrication from beginning to end. I hope the police will find the supposed injury report, because I am preparing a libel case against her.”
Doubts existence of injury report
The article also stated that an injury report existed from her visit to the emergency room, but Hafþór wants to see evidence of its existence.
“The journalist claimed to be in possession of a report that proves the attack, but where is this report?”, he wrote. “Why wasn’t it published with the article? There must be some documentation of her hospital visit, which shows the reason for her visit. I challenge both of them to provide it and make it public.”
The emails
In the article it was claimed that a superintendent at a dorm the two lived on in Selfoss, while he was studying, corroborated Thelma’s account, and had repeatedly stopped Hafþór from attacking her. Hafþór has now made public email correspondence between the superintendent and his lawyer he claims disproves this claim.
“You told me over the phone that you never witnessed Hafþór laying hands on Thelma at the time when they lived on the dorm,” his lawyer wrote. “You, furthermore, said you were ready to confirm this over email. Therefore, I need you to answer this question: Did you ever see Hafþór physically abusing Thelma?”
In her response, the superintendent wrote that she had in fact never directly seen any physical conflict between the two, but that she had on occasion intervened when she heard shouting and racket from their apartment.
“When I came into their apartments they were both very upset, she often crying and he angry,” the superintendent wrote. “Both separately and together they admitted that the arguments sometimes lead to physical confrontations. That she had slapped him and he had acted in a threatening manner. I sometimes noticed that her skin was red, which supported her allegations that he had slapped or grabbed her hard.”
The superintendent claims that Hafþór had claimed that she had pushed him and that this was the cause of their arguments, but he did admit to sometimes crossing the line. And that Thelma had told her that he had always refused to discuss the reason for their arguments and instead intimidated her.
Volatile relationship
Hafþór claims that the only thing this email proves is that a relationship between 18-19 year old teenagers can be volatile and that they often fought. He claims that the only reason for their fights turning physical was the fact that she would attack him, which forced him to hold her back.
“I might have a temper, but I never attack people when I’m angry. I think everyone who knows me can testify to that.”
He doubts the integrity of the journalist who wrote the article, and believes the whole thing is fabrication and slander.
“Is it possible that Snærós Sindradóttir, the journalist, is spinning a web of lies about me against her better judgment?” he wrote. “Is it good journalism to publish such slander? To create a one sided account from a mother who is willing to do whatever it takes to stop the father from seeing his child?”
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