Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest

“I requested permission to read parts of the records if I signed a confidentiality agreement,” Ekström said. “I had to make sure that Salander had the history she was alleged to have.”

“Thank you,” Giannini said. “This means that we now have confirmation that Dr Teleborian not only tells lies but also broke the law by disseminating records that he himself claims are classified.”

“Duly noted,” said the judge.

Judge Iversen was suddenly very alert. In a most unorthodox way, Giannini had launched a serious attack on a witness, and she already made mincemeat of an important part of his testimony. And she claims that she can document everything she says . Judge Iversen adjusted his glasses.

“Dr Teleborian, based on these records which you yourself wrote… could you now tell me how many days Lisbeth Salander was kept in restraints?”

“I have no recollection that it could have been so extensive, but if that’s what the records say, then I have to believe it.”

“A total of 381 days and nights. Does that not strike you as excessive?”

“It is unusually long… yes.”

“How would you perceive it if you were thirteen years old and someone strapped you to a steel-framed bed for more than a year? Would it feel like torture?”

“You have to understand that the patient was dangerous to herself as well as to others –”

“O.K. Let’s look at dangerous to herself . Has Lisbeth Salander ever injured herself?”

“There were such misgivings –”

“I’ll repeat the question: has Lisbeth Salander ever injured herself? Yes or no?”

“As psychiatrists we must teach ourselves to interpret the overall picture. With regard to Lisbeth Salander, you can see on her body, for example, a multitude of tattoos and piercings, which are also a form of self-destructive behaviour and a way of damaging one’s own body. We can interpret that as a manifestation of self-hate.”

Giannini turned to Salander.

“Are your tattoos a manifestation of self-hate?” she said.

“No,” Salander said.

Giannini turned back to Teleborian. “So you believe that I am also dangerous to myself because I wear earrings and actually have a tattoo in a private place?”

Palmgren sniggered, but he managed to transform the snigger into a clearing of his throat.

“No, not at all… tattoos can also be part of a social ritual.”

“Are you saying that Lisbeth Salander is not part of this social ritual?”

“You can see for yourself that her tattoos are grotesque and extend over large parts of her body. That is no normal measure of fetishism or body decoration.”

“What percentage?”

“Excuse me?”

“At what percentage of tattooed body surface does it stop being fetishism and become a mental illness?”

“You’re distorting my words.”

“Am I? How is it that, in your opinion, it is part of a wholly acceptable social ritual when it applies to me or to other young people, but it becomes dangerous when it’s a matter of evaluating my client’s mental state?”

“As a psychiatrist I have to look at the whole picture. The tattoos are merely an indicator. As I have already said, it is one of many indicators which need to be taken into account when I evaluate her condition.”

Giannini was silent for a few seconds as she fixed Teleborian with her gaze. She now spoke very slowly.

“But Dr Teleborian, you began strapping down my client when she was twelve years old, going on thirteen. At that time she did not have a single tattoo, did she?”

Teleborian hesitated and Giannini went on.

“I presume that you did not strap her down because you predicted that she would begin tattooing herself sometime in the future.”

“Of course not. Her tattoos had nothing to do with her condition in 1991.”

“With that we are back to my original question. Did Lisbeth Salander ever injure herself in a way that would justify keeping her bound to a bed for a whole year? For example, did she cut herself with a knife or a razor blade or anything like that?”

Teleborian looked unsure for a second.

“No… I used the tattoos as an example of self-destructive behaviour.”

“And we have just agreed that tattoos are a legitimate part of a social ritual. I asked why you restrained her for a year and you replied that it was because she was a danger to herself.”

“We had reason to believe that she was a danger to herself.”

“ Reason to believe . So you’re saying that you restrained her because you guessed something?”

“We carried out assessments.”

“I have now been asking the same question for about five minutes. You claim that my client’s self-destructive behaviour was one reason why she was strapped down for a total of more than a year out of the two years she was in your care. Can you please finally give me some examples of the self-destructive behaviour she evidenced at the age of twelve?”

“The girl was extremely undernourished, for example. This was partially due to the fact that she refused food. We suspected anorexia.”

“I see. Was she anorexic? As you can see, my client is even today uncommonly thin and fine-boned.”

“Well, it’s difficult to answer that question. I would have to observe her eating habits for quite a long time.”

“You did observe her eating habits – for two years. And now you’re suggesting that you confused anorexia with the fact that my client is small and thin. You say that she refused food.”

“We were compelled to force-feed her on several occasions.”

“And why was that?”

“Because she refused to eat, of course.”

Giannini turned to her client.

“Lisbeth, is it true that you refused to eat at St Stefan’s?”

“Yes.”

“And why was that?”

“Because that bastard was mixing psychoactive drugs into my food.”

“I see. So Dr Teleborian wanted to give you medicine. Why didn’t you want to take it?”

“I didn’t like the medicine I was being given. It made me sluggish. I couldn’t think and I was sedated for most of the time I was awake. And the bastard refused to tell me what the drugs contained.”

“So you refused to take the medicine?”

“Yes. Then he began putting the crap in my food instead. So I stopped eating. Every time something had been put in my food, I stopped eating for five days.”

“So you had to go hungry.”

“Not always. Several of the attendants smuggled sandwiches in to me on various occasions. One in particular gave me food late at night. That happened quite often.”

“So you think that the nursing staff at St Stefan’s saw that you were hungry and gave you food so that you would not have to starve?”

“That was during the period when I was battling with this bastard over psychoactive drugs.”

“Tell us what happened.”

“He tried to drug me. I refused to take his medicine. He started putting it in my food. I refused to eat. He started force-feeding me. I began vomiting up the food.”

“So there was a completely rational reason why you refused the food.”

“Yes.”

“It was not because you didn’t want food?”

“No. I was often hungry.”

“And since you left St Stefan’s… do you eat regularly?”

“I eat when I’m hungry.”

“Would it be correct to say that a conflict arose between you and Dr Teleborian?”

“You could say that.”

“You were sent to St Stefan’s because you had thrown petrol at your father and set him on fire.”

“Yes.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Because he abused my mother.”

“Did you ever explain that to anyone?”

“Yes.”