Plzeň man charged with intoxication despite killing brother
A twenty-nine-year-old man from Plzeň attacked family members with a knife. He killed his younger brother and seriously wounded his father. Psychiatrists determined he was not in his right mind at the time of the act.
Plzeň man charged with intoxication despite killing brother
A court in Plzeň will hear the case of a twenty-nine-year-old man who attacked his own family last November in the Slovany district. Tomáš B. killed his brother and seriously wounded his father. Police initially investigated the incident as murder, but an expert opinion changed the legal classification to the crime of intoxication, according to Novinky.cz.
The tragedy occurred on Hlavanova Street. A verbal argument first broke out, during which the accused struck his fifty-year-old father in the eye. After his twenty-four-year-old brother intervened in the conflict, the aggressor grabbed two sharp blades from the kitchen and shouted: "You are two against me!" He then began stabbing both men in the neck and chest area.
The blows were delivered with such force that the knife blades broke off from the handles. Surgeons later had to remove them from the body of the older victim. The younger brother bled to death at the scene, while the father miraculously survived the incident. The mother present remained physically unharmed. "I was standing next to my husband and shouting at my son to stop. He did nothing to me," she told investigators.
A team of psychiatrists examined the mental state of the accused and concluded that at the time of the attack he suffered from a lack of responsibility caused by chronic substance abuse. His ability to recognise the unlawfulness of his behaviour was zero, as was his capacity for self-control. He acted under the influence of paranoid delusions that someone was trying to kill him.
According to experts, Tomáš B. is heavily dependent on methamphetamine, cannabis and opioids. In the past he had undergone treatment for a psychotic disorder induced by drugs, which is why he could have anticipated the consequences of consuming addictive substances. The experts classified him as a public risk and recommended secure detention.
Prosecutor Jiří Richtr is seeking a six-year sentence for the accused in a correctional facility with supervision and subsequent placement in a secure institution. For intoxication he faces a maximum of ten years, whereas for murder he could receive up to eighteen years imprisonment.
Source: Novinky.cz