Prague/Brno, April 18 (CTK) – The Czech Supreme Court (NS) has once again cancelled a previous verdict that found Lukas Necesany guilty of attempted murder, complying with the convict’s second petition for an appellate review and returning the case to the respective regional court, his defence lawyer told CTK on Tuesday.
The twists and turns in the court proceedings have been closely watched by media in the past months.
Necesany, 25, was repeatedly convicted of attempted murder of a female hairdresser in Horice, east Bohemia, and sentenced to prison. The court of appeals repeatedly upheld the verdict as definitive. However, Necesany, who pleads not guilty, always achieved the cancellation of the verdict by the NS.
After Necesany applied for the second appellate review a few months ago, the NS interrupted his prison sentence last December pending its decision, which it eventually made at a closed session at the end of March.
The NS will not comment on its decision for the time being, because it sent it to the Regional Court in Hradec Kralove, east Bohemia, a mere few days ago, NS spokesman Petr Tomicek said.
Necesany’s defence lawyer Oldrich Chudoba said there is an extreme discrepancy between the presented evidence and the conclusion of facts by the lower-level courts. He said the NS has complied with his objections.
“It ordered that the Hradec Kralove Regional Court deal with the case again and that the new decision be made by a different panel of judges,” Chudoba said.
Judge Jiri Vacek, who headed the previous panel, dealt with the case three times before and always made a similar decision.
In January 2014, he sent Necesany to 16 years in prison, but Necesany appealed against the verdict and the High Court (VS) in Prague cancelled the verdict.
Vacek eventually imposed a 16-year-prison sentence on Necesany again, and the VS softened the verdict to 13 years. The verdict took effect but Necesany sought an appellate review. The NS cancelled the verdict in May 2015 and had him released from prison.
Last April, the Regional Court found Necesany guilty for the third time and sentenced him to 13 years in prison. The VS upheld the verdict. Necesany, however, succeeded with another appellate review and the case is now returning to the Regional Court.
The attack in the Horice hairdresser’s shop occurred in February 2013. The assailant struck the hairdresser with a log six times at least and stole 10,000 crowns from her purse. The seriously wounded woman was later found by her son and doctors saved her life.
Necesany admits having entered the hairdresser’s shop. He says he wanted to have his hair cut, but the shop was closing, which is why he left. He says someone must have attacked the woman after his departure.
According to the previous, now cancelled verdict, the evidence proving Necesany’s guilt includes scent traces on the hairdresser’s purse and a switch in the shop. There was a property motive behind the crime, as Necesany had debts, the original verdict said.
