Esperi mental health unit stabbing case in court – prosecutor demands nine years
A 35-year-old woman is accused of stabbing her male partner to death at Turku Esperi in April. The prosecutor demands at least nine years imprisonment.
Turku: Esperi murder case in district court, alpha-PVP detected in defendants' blood
Yle News reported that the trial for a homicide that took place in April at Turku Esperi's mental health unit began on Monday at the District Court of Varsinais-Suomi.
A 35-year-old woman is charged with the stabbing, having stabbed her male partner at least 17 times. The blows struck various parts of the man's body. Regional prosecutor Alma Valpas is demanding at least nine years imprisonment for the woman.
The woman was a resident of Esperi's Ratamo Turku unit. The supervised unit is home to substance abuse and mental health rehabilitation clients. The victim was visiting the unit.
Defendant: man assaulted her before the stabbing
According to the defendant, the man struck her with a chair for at least 15 minutes before the act. "I was absolutely certain he would kill me and it hurt so much," the woman told police investigators. She drew a knife to stop the blows.
The woman herself called the emergency services after the man left the apartment and requested help for the man she had stabbed. Ratamo Turku staff separately called the emergency services after discovering the bleeding man in the hallway. The victim died despite resuscitation efforts.
The woman denies intentionally killing the man and admits as a secondary charge to excessive self-defence. According to the defence, the man had subjected the woman to regular violence and threats even before the day of the incident.
The woman's counsel Sanna-Mari Makkonen justified the use of the knife: "She didn't have a huge range of different options. She was in a small apartment and was afraid for her own health, acting under fear and terror."
Prosecutor: number of injuries exceeds defensible limit
Prosecutor Valpas maintains that the situation did not justify the woman's actions. "The number of injuries, their dangerousness and the defendant's conduct exceed what is defensible," she stated in court. The prosecutor pointed among other things to blood traces that show the blows increased as events progressed. The woman used two different knives in the act.
Both the defendant's and the victim's blood contained drugs, including alpha-PVP. The prosecutor emphasises that the substance increases aggression and risk-taking, which in her view undermines the reliability of the woman's account.
The defence interprets the same blood traces to the contrary: they show that the man did not stop the violence despite the first stab wounds.
The prosecutor and the defence agree that the defendant caused the man's death, and the altercation preceding the act is also undisputed. The court will assess what kind of attack the woman was subjected to and whether her response to it was justified.
The prosecutor is demanding that the woman be referred for a mental state examination, but the woman herself opposes it.
Source: Yle Uutiset