Twenty-five years for brutal murder of acquaintance in Prague flat
A Prague court has sentenced a twenty-nine-year-old man to 25 years in prison for the particularly brutal murder of a man in his sixties in Krč. The perpetrator attacked the victim with a metal knuckleduster, slit his throat and subsequently burgled the flat.
Twenty-five years for brutal murder of acquaintance in Prague flat
Twenty-nine-year-old Michal Štrumfa will serve 25 years in prison for the murder of his acquaintance, which he committed last July in Prague's Krč district. The sentence was handed down by judge Kateřina Ctiborová on Wednesday; the decision has not yet become legally binding and the convicted man has reserved the right to appeal.
The crime took place during the night of 23 July in a flat in a panel house. Štrumfa attacked his sixty-year-old host in the bedroom, hitting him with a metal knuckleduster to the face and body. The victim sustained severe injuries including fractured jaws, a burst eye and a broken rib. After discovering that the man was still breathing, he took a serrated knife from the kitchen and slit his throat.
On the same day, the perpetrator returned to the crime scene and took items worth approximately 57,000 crowns. In court, he admitted to both the killing and the burglary and theft. He defended his actions by claiming that the victim had sexually harassed him and that he wanted to "end the suffering" of the man. The judge rejected this claim, stating that he could have called an ambulance instead; instead, he opted for a lethal attack.
Expert reports characterise Štrumfa as a man of above-average intelligence, but without moral principles, conscience or any remorse for the life he had destroyed. According to Ctiborová, the fact that he left the flat first and then returned to attack rules out an act of passion. The court also established that he had planned to sell the dead man's flat and assumed that the new owner would deal with the body.
For a particularly cruel and premeditated murder, a sentence of 15 to 20 years or an exceptional sentence could be imposed. The prosecutor demanded the highest sentence, whilst the defence sought the basic sentence. The court ultimately also found the defendant guilty of violation of the inviolability of the home and unauthorised use of the victim's payment card.
Source: Aktuálně.cz
Source: Aktuálně.cz