London: An immoral act she committed more than three and a half decades ago led to the resignation of a minister in Iceland.
Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir, who was ironically Iceland’s Minister for Children, resigned abruptly after confessing that she had a baby with a teenaged boy in the 1990s.
Now 58 years old, Thorsdottir disclosed that the relationship began when she was a counsellor at a religious group where the teenager, Eirik Asmundsson, was an attendee. She gave birth to the child at 23, when the boy had turned 16, BBC reported.
Thorsdottir had to make the confession after Iceland news outlet RUV exposed the relationship, which she had managed to keep away from public knowledge over so many years.
In Iceland, the age of consent is 15, and it is illegal to be involved in a physical relationship with a person under 18 if he or she is the mentor or teacher, or takes care of the minor financially.
Anyone found guilty can be sentenced to upto three years in jail.
Thirty-six years after the indiscretion, Thorsdottir said a “lot of things” have changed, and she would “definitely have dealt with these issues differently” today.
Iceland Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir called it a “serious matter.”
As soon as she got confirmation about the media story on Thursday night, she summoned Thorsdottir to her office, where the children’s minister resigned, according to Visir newspaper.
Although the relationship between Thorsdottir and Asmundsson was a secret, the later was present at the time of the child’s birth and spent the first year together.
The dynamic of their relationship changed after Thorsdottir met her would-be husband.
Asmundsson was legally obligated to pay child support until the child turned 18.
After Thorsdottir’s marriage, she greatly restricted Asmundsson’s access to the child.
Asmundsson earlier submitted documents to Iceland’s Justice Ministry, requesting access to his son.
Though Thorsdottir has stepped down as minister, she has no plans to leave the Parliament, where she is a member of the centre-left People’s Party.