Czech Republic: Skinhead to serve life in prison for murdering elderly couple

The Czech Press Agency reports that state prosecutor Eva Prskavcová has announced that the sentence of life in prison has taken effect for 19-year-old Tomáš Vít, who brutally murdered an elderly couple in Trutnov last year. The High Court in Prague was supposed to have reviewed the verdict tomorrow, but the young defendant unexpectedly withdrew his appeal.

The Regional Court in Hradec Králové sentenced the youth to life in prison last November. Vít appealed on the spot, offering to spend 30 years behind bars and promising to reform, but Prskavcová says he changed his mind last week and sent the courts a letter accepting the initial verdict.

Vít assaulted the two seniors, who were his neighbors, in February 2012 in their apartment. He confessed in court to murdering them, testifying that he had asked them for a pain reliever and then attacked them when they were not able to give him one.

Vít first attacked the man (aged 95), punching and stabbing him. He then attacked the woman (aged 89) by repeatedly striking her in the head with a hammer. The woman died as a result of shock from her injuries on the scene, while the seriously injured man died in hospital of brain swelling.

Vít had reportedly been using marijuana for two years prior to committing the crime. Court experts said he has psychopathic personality disorder and a tendency to seek revenge. He was involved with the skinhead movement and had previously been convicted of three different drug and property crimes.

According to the Prison Services, as of 8 March there were 45 people serving life sentences in Czech prisons. Of those, 42 are male.