A man faces life imprisonment for a murder in Děčín, the court will decide the sentence today

Update: 05.05.2023 00:15

Ústí nad Labem – Today, the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem should pass sentence on the defendant Karel Kalina, whom the public prosecutor’s office accuses of murdering a friend. A recidivist faces 15 to 20 years in prison, or an exceptional sentence, i.e. up to 30 years in prison or life imprisonment. In his closing speech, the public prosecutor proposed the highest possible sentence, life imprisonment. The defense requests acquittal.

The indictment accuses the forty-two-year-old man of assaulting his nine-year-old friend with repeated blows to various parts of the body last year on February 3 and 4 in the family home in Jiříkov in Děčínsk. He also choked and kicked her. He then drove the victim to nearby Rumburk on a dirt road and doused her with gasoline. According to the prosecutor, the victim inhaled gasoline at least once. The man then set her on fire, according to the indictment. The woman died on February 4 as a result of suffocation. The survivors are demanding damages in the total amount of 20 million crowns.

In 2000, the defendant was sentenced to 12 years for attempted murder and rape. He was released on parole in 2009. In addition, Kalina was tried a few years ago for assaulting two other women. The defendant, who has been in custody since his arrest, pleaded not guilty in court.

The public prosecutor believes that the woman was murdered in a particularly reprehensible manner. In addition, Kalina was already in prison and also receiving treatment for sexual deviation. The public prosecutor stated that the defendant is a danger to society. The defense objected that no direct evidence was given at the time of the proceedings. In addition, according to her, some manipulation of the evidence cannot be ruled out. For example, the investigators took a photo of the tire from Kalin’s vehicle, but the tire was not photographed on his vehicle, it was removed from the car.