Court sentences eight years' imprisonment for brutal killing of teenager in Žvėryne
Vilnius Regional Court delivered a conviction verdict in the case of a teenager's murder that occurred in the Žvėryne district of the capital in 2010. The peer defendant has been sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.
Court sentences eight years' imprisonment for brutal killing of teenager in Žvėryne
Vilnius Regional Court announced a guilty verdict on Monday in the case of a teenager's murder that took place in the capital last year. The defendant, born in 2010, has been sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. This decision may still be reviewed on appeal.
The pre-trial investigation was launched on 2 August 2025, when a Vilnius resident reported that her underage son, who had left home that same day, did not return. During the search, parts of the missing teenager's body were found in a communal waste container and in a nearby small forest in the Žvėryne district.
The following day, on 3 August, law enforcement detained an underage suspect in connection with the act, who was also born in 2010. It emerged that he and the victim were not only peers but also classmates and friends.
The court examined the case in closed sessions. A three-judge panel, presided over by Audrius Cininas, together with Ramūnas Keidūnas and Daiva Kazlauskiene, reviewed the case over several months. The judges took into account the fact that the convicted person admitted guilt, provided detailed testimony and expressed remorse. Additionally, his parents compensated the victim's family for material damages.
According to investigation data, the taking of life was cold-bloodedly pre-planned in advance. The crime was carried out in stages, and the defendant attempted to conceal and destroy evidence. He desperately tried to dispose of the main evidence – the body was cut into pieces, and these were attempted to be burnt.
The incident shocked not only the Žvėryne residents' community but also the local gymnasium's staff. Following tensions, the school's principal at that time stepped down from her position. Law enforcement described the investigation as "exceptionally sensitive" from the very beginning.
The victim's grandfather attended the court hearings. He told journalists that his grandson was very talented – he was good at mathematics and physics, and was a strong chess player. The boy lived with his grandparents, and his parents usually took him only on weekends. The grandfather recalled that the child liked to go to the library to play chess on the computer, and when he returned home he would solve chess puzzles. When asked what could ease the pain of loss, he replied: "Probably time..."
The grandfather also said he wished to know why his grandson was killed so brutally: "Why did you cut him there, why did you throw him in the rubbish bin? You burnt him too? That's what is most terrible."
Source: 15min.lt
Source: 15min