The senior woman faced ten to 18 years in prison, the public prosecutor suggested 11 years, the defense demanded a sentence at the lower limit or even below it. At the same time, the court ordered the defendant to pay non-pecuniary damage to the sister and son of the murdered man in the total amount of half a million crowns.
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A woman killed her 76-year-old husband on August 5 last year in a cottage in Heřmanice near Žandov, when he turned his back on her after a previous verbal argument and, apparently, a mutual face-off.
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She cut and burned
“She hit him twice on the head with the hatchet. After making sure that he showed no signs of life, she brought a knife,” said Plšková. She cut off the dead man’s arms and legs at the joints, loaded them on a wheelbarrow, drove them to a pre-dug hole in the garden and burned them for several nights.
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She then carried away the skeletal remains and ashes in buckets and threw them into the stream. She then claimed to neighbors and relatives that her husband had left for another woman.
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In the end, however, the woman confided in a neighbor, who reported everything to the police. The defendant then cooperated with the police in the investigation and confessed to the murder in court in a statement of guilt, which made it unnecessary to conduct further evidence. For Hájková, it was her fourth husband, she lived with him for about 15 years.
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“I’m sorry for what I did. It wasn’t planned at all, no way. It was not an intention,” Hájková said in her closing speech.
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The legend of the disappearance
The motive for her act was apparently long-term frustration from cohabitation with her husband, according to her, he did not treat her nicely and did not contribute to the running of the household. “The question is whether it had a real basis or whether it was a reflection of her nature,” said the prosecutor. According to experts, the accused woman has a reduced ability to empathize, has a strong tendency to exaggerate her problems, and refuses to compromise.
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She apparently killed her husband in a fit of rage. However, according to judge Markéta Navrátilová, her further actions were rational and ingenious, which, according to her, they took into account when determining the punishment. “She was aggravated by the cold-blooded actions after the crime, the creation of a legend about his disappearance,” the judge said when justifying the sentence.
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In addition, according to her, the defendant did not show significant remorse, nor did she apologize to the survivors. According to the judge, mitigating circumstances for determining the sentence were the defendant’s age, her previous integrity and the fact that she is a person with many health problems.
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