Homeless twice-murderer sentenced to life imprisonment

The Budapest Court of Appeal has proposed to uphold the life sentence of the man who killed two people within a few months.

In its first-instance judgment of 19 January 2023, the Balassagyarmat Court of First Instance found the middle-aged man guilty of the crime of manslaughter of several people and sentenced him to life imprisonment and his female accomplice to 10 years imprisonment.

According to the facts of the conviction, the accomplices were living together as partners under a bridge in Salgótarján. In the autumn of 2020, they were joined by another homeless man who, in a drunken state, repeatedly made sexual advances to the woman, who regularly turned him down. Her then partner then stabbed the victim, who was drunk and lying on a mattress, seven times, after which she took the knife and stabbed him twice more in the chest. The victim died within minutes. The body was hidden by the woman. The relationship between the perpetrators broke down soon after the incident and the woman fled to Germany.

On 11 January 2021, the man, who had been punished several times for his previous violent crimes, was having fun under the influence of alcohol with another female acquaintance in Salgótarján. When they arrived at the man’s accommodation under the bridge, they got into an argument. The man, in a rage, started to beat her and then stabbed her 12 times with a knife, causing her to bleed to death.

The former life partners and their lawyers appealed against the first-instance judgment, primarily for acquittal and a reduction of the sentences, while the decision was upheld by the prosecutor for both of them.

The Budapest Court of Appeal has recently issued a second instance motion to the Budapest Court of Appeal (Fővárosi Ítélőtaba) to uphold the first instance judgment, with the simultaneous dismissal of the defence appeals. Both perpetrators are in custody awaiting the conclusion of their criminal case at the second instance.