On February 1, 2017, Grandma Ivanka’s day began like all the others. She gets up, drinks her medicine and waits for Donka to help her. However, she doesn’t expect this morning to be the last. Her assistant comes, but not to do her job, but to kill the pensioner.
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38-year-old Donka Petkova was unemployed. She lived in the village of Plovdiv Dalbok Izvor. She did not have the skills or knowledge to start a well-paying job and live a normal life. Also, a great burden, and not in her favor, was her past: until 2017, she Donka had five convictions, including one for robbery. She was last released from prison in June 2014 and has lived in Dalbok Izvor ever since.
He has tried many times to find a job. On several occasions she has been hired to care for older people during the day who cannot take care of themselves, and their relatives are busy with work and family. Adults complained that she hardly worked, she was constantly asking for money and suspected that she had committed a petty theft. So the people who had hired her refused her services, it happened that she did not work for months, having no money for food and cigarettes. She had to beg as well as steal.
Going to the village of Dalbok Izvor, Donka wanted to show a completely new image so that people could trust her and, accordingly, when they needed it, call her and pay her. In a few months everyone knows it. Most of the inhabitants had a hard time trusting her.
In early January 2017, she approached the lonely 84-year-old retired Ivanka Kukova. She saw that the old woman was struggling alone: she did not have the strength to clean, cook or go to the store.
Donka he felt this was his golden opportunity
still have some income, even if minimal. In one of the conversations with the old woman <210> offered his services. He told her that she would be by her side most of the day and that she wouldn’t ask for much money for it. Donka managed to convince her that he needed her. Therefore, the pensioner agreed to daily visits for sums of the order of 2-4 BGN.
The repeat offender walked every morning. He cleaned, loaded and lit the stove, walked around the house and yard, sometimes cooked, went to the shop, etc. Donka was happy because she had the opportunity to eat there, and at the end of the day she too took some money, which she mainly used to buy cigarettes.
Everything went well for about a month. The two understood each other, they talked, the old woman paid herself. However, on February 1st, the situation suddenly changed and he lost control. Like every day, Donka went to Grandma Ivanka’s house this morning. The pensioner was already awake and dressed. She was sitting on one of the beds in the living room and watching TV.
The assistant began his work: he threw the ashes out of the stove, loaded it with wood and lit it. Then he cleaned the house. When he was done, she sat on the bed next to her old woman to ask if she wanted to shop and if she needed anything. Grandma Ivanka said she has it all. Donka was silent for a minute, then another conversation began – about money.
He asked the pensioner to give 5 BGN, not the usual 2-3 BGN, to buy coffee and cigarette filters. He explained that she wanted to smoke but only had tobacco. Very calmly, her grandmother Ivanka replied that she would give it immediately if she had it. At the moment, however, she had no extra money, as she was still a few days away from retirement. She promised, however, that when she took it, she would immediately give it to him.
Donka was not satisfied with this answer. Suddenly her expression changed and after a second she was out of control. She was angry at the refusal and lashed out at her grandmother Ivanka.
He grabbed her by the throat with both hands
The retiree got scared. He briefly tried to drive her away, as she had no strength of her, and promised once again to give her her money by taking her pension, that is, in a few days. In her anger, Donka didn’t hear a word. He gave her old woman a hard kick, then pinned her to the edge of the sink.
For a few seconds he squeezed tight, while the old woman was already moaning in pain. After releasing her grip, the old woman collapsed to the ground. She thought for a moment that Donka was finished. But it wasn’t like that. The attacker jumped on her, pressed his knees against her chest and squeezed her neck tightly with both hands. A few seconds later, grandmother Ivanka stopped showing signs of life and died. The retiree was conscious all the time before death occurred. He screamed, begged for help, made unsuccessful attempts to defend himself, but he had no chance against his strong opponent.
After realizing that grandmother Ivanka was dead, Donka removed the gold earrings from her ears and put them in her pocket. He took two rugs from the house, a runner and a sack containing a sheet, a blanket, a towel and a pillowcase.
He took all the belongings to the houses of his acquaintances in the village, after which he returned to his home and began to perform his usual duties. There he hid the gold earrings in a sack. Soon after, the elderly woman’s relatives came to see if she was okay and if she needed anything.
However, they did not expect to face a nightmare. They entered Grandma Ivanka’s house and froze in horror: they found her body in the middle of the room and immediately called 112. After forensic experts found traces of violence on the pensioner’s body, the suspects were immediately raised. to assistant Donka. On the same day, the repeat offender was arrested. A few hours later, she was charged with murder by the prosecutor.
Merciless judgment
29 years behind bars for Donka
due to the brutal murder
A triple forensic medical examination was appointed in the case. According to the conclusion, grandmother Ivanka’s death occurred due to “mechanical asphyxiation when she presses her neck with her hands” or strangulation. Donko Petkova was arrested. The prosecutor’s office asked for life without parole for the strangler at the first hearing of the case in Plovdiv.
According to the prosecution, Donka “committed the crime in the conditions of a dangerous relapse, he deliberately killed the old woman, and the act was carried out in a particularly painful way for the victim and with particular cruelty”.
In court, Donka tried to justify the murder by claiming that she was very angry and did not control herself. This surprised both judges and prosecutors in the courtroom. She also heard from the repeat offender: “What I did will never happen again.” The magistrates, however, are ruthless, both those in the District Court and their colleagues in the Court of Appeals.
“Prison obviously hasn’t re-educated this woman. There is nothing human about her anymore after taking a human life for a pack of cigarettes. She works at the level of basic needs. That’s why she should be isolated from society as the as long as possible!” -with these words the prosecutor concluded his memory. The son of the murdered woman, Angel Kukov, cried in the courtroom and asked for the accused to be sentenced to death. “This woman came into my house, she strangled my mother, she smashed her head. She shouldn’t live. Death by death!” He screamed.
The district magistrates have imposed 25 years for the manslaughter and 4 years for the subsequent robbery, to be included in the broader sentence. In addition, due to multiple convictions for other crimes, the judges added another four years. Thus, the general sentence, instead of the maximum – life without parole, became 29 years in prison. The sentence was subsequently confirmed by both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Donka is currently serving her sentence in Sliven Prison.
