Slovak man sentenced to 8.5 years in Prague for attempted murder of girlfriend; will be deported after serving sentence
Tomáš Kovanda (40) from Slovakia heard his sentence from Prague City Court on Wednesday. For attempting to murder his girlfriend, whom he stabbed in the back with a knife in the city centre and subsequently strangled, he was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison. After serving his sentence, he will be de
Slovak man sentenced to 8.5 years in Prague for attempted murder of girlfriend; will be deported after serving sentence
Prague City Court on Wednesday sent forty-year-old Tomáš Kovanda, a Slovak citizen, behind bars for eight and a half years. The court decided so in a case of attempted murder of his partner. After his release from serving his sentence, the man will be forbidden to cross the Czech Republic's borders for ten years. The verdict is not yet final; the defendant did not express himself on the possibility of appeal.
The crime took place in October of last year in a flat in the city centre. Kovanda, who receives disability benefits, learned from his partner that he should pay his share of rent and household expenses. The man was under pressure at the time, as he also needed money for another woman in his life. Instead of resolving the situation through words, he went to the kitchen corner, took a knife with a blade 21 centimetres long, and struck the woman in the back. She was resting on a bed at the time.
The victim turned around and actively defended herself. She managed to push the attacker so forcefully that the blade became lodged in the mattress seven centimetres deep. Eventually, the woman succeeded in knocking the knife out of Kovanda's hand. However, the aggressor took her phones from her so she could not contact emergency services. When she tried to flee the flat, he began to strangle her. The state prosecutor described that the injured party could not breathe, her limbs were shaking, and she was in severe fear for her life. Kovanda continued the violence with a dressing-gown belt before he stopped.
The woman persuaded the man to call an ambulance. Thanks to her own defence and negotiation, she survived. While doctors treated her injuries in hospital, police searched for the attacker. They apprehended him several hours after the crime in the Prague district of Karlín.
In court, Kovanda admitted guilt for the entire incident. "I regret the act. I am truly sorry for what I caused the injured party," he said. The court accepted his admission and conducted only brief evidence proceedings with documentary materials. The presiding judge Tomé Frankič stated that he found no reason to reject the guilty plea.
Source: Novinky.cz
Source: Novinky.cz