"Han kunne ikke fatte hva som hadde skjedd."
Translation:He could not comprehend what had happened.
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The original meaning of fathom (Old English fæþm) was an embrace with the distance of one's arms. It eventually took on the meaning of mental grasp or understanding, or the measurement more specifically. It is cognate with Norwegian favn.
If you say:
"Fatter du ikke det !!!!!!"
to someone, you tell the person that he is extremely stupid. It's not an important thing to learn.
It's better to use the verb "å forstå".
In the duo-sentence the word "fatte" is used in a different setting: Han kunne ikke fatte (forstå) ..... it was impossible to understand ....
Perhaps it's not the kindest way to phrase it but it'd be good to be able to understand if it's said to you. "Fatter du ikke det?!" is a direct cognate, with all the same implication of stupidity, to English "Don't you get it?!"
(In English, however, it could be said in a gentle tone and thus be only slightly condescending.)