Prosecutor seeks life sentences for two accused of killing elderly women

A prosecutor has asked a court to sentence two men accused of murdering two elderly women in Šalčininkai district to life in prison, LRT reported on Tuesday.

The men, residents of the district, are also charged with robbery, violating the inviolability of a person’s home and destroying property in a way that endangered the public. The prosecutor has asked the Vilnius Regional Court to declare the previously convicted defendants repeat offenders. Both are in custody.

Investigators say A. S., born in 1989, and P. N., born in 2001, broke into elderly women’s homes and used physical violence to obtain information about money kept there. The men allegedly killed two women with particular cruelty for financial gain, stole their money and set fire to their homes to conceal the crimes. A third elderly woman was allegedly beaten and robbed.

The pre-trial investigation began after several homes in the district caught fire over a short period and the burned bodies of elderly people were found. Police also received information about a separate break-in in which a woman was assaulted and her money stolen. Investigators examined several possibilities, including whether the fires had been deliberately set to hide other crimes.

The two men face a total of eight criminal charges. The investigation was conducted by the Serious Crimes Investigation Board of the Vilnius County Police Criminal Investigation Bureau under the supervision of a prosecutor from the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office.