Court sentences uncle and nephew for brutal murder

A court in Šiauliai has sentenced a 42-year-old man to 14 years in prison and his nephew to six years for the particularly brutal murder of a man, LRT reported Thursday. The older defendant, Marius Kavaliauskas, had previously been convicted 10 times.

The Šiauliai Regional Court found that Kavaliauskas drew his nephew, identified as I.K., into the crime while the younger man was still a minor. I.K. is now an adult and remains free under precautionary measures, while Kavaliauskas had been in custody awaiting the verdict, court spokesperson Vytautas Jončas told ELTA.

The killing took place on December 28, 2024, at a house in Toleikiai village, Kelmė district. After drinking, Kavaliauskas argued with M.A., a visitor who had come after work. Kavaliauskas began attacking him because he believed the visitor had come intending to kill one of his relatives.

Witnesses said Kavaliauskas struck M.A. several times and threatened to shoot him while pressing an air pistol to his head. He then forced the victim into a trailer attached to a walk-behind tractor and persuaded I.K. to drive to a nearby forest, showing him the way. In the forest, Kavaliauskas inflicted most of the cuts to M.A.’s neck. While Kavaliauskas held the kneeling victim’s hands, I.K. deliberately cut him at least once with a knife.

The murder weapon and bloodstained gloves were found in a stove at the home of Kavaliauskas’s brother. DNA testing found the victim’s blood on the gloves. The judges said witness testimony, expert findings and other evidence proved the charges. They accepted I.K.’s account from his first interview, on December 30, 2024, as the most reliable, and rejected Kavaliauskas’s conflicting statements as an attempt to avoid or reduce criminal liability.

The court also cited the men’s actions after the killing: they returned to the house together, and later set out toward the body with a shovel and a container of petrol, apparently intending to hide it. They left when they saw car lights near the scene.

The judges said both men understood they were acting together and intended to cause injuries that could result in M.A.’s death. They also found that Kavaliauskas deliberately persuaded the underage I.K. to take part. In sentencing I.K., the court considered his secondary role and the fact that he was a minor when drawn into the crime.