Murderer: Bernardes Petreikis
A
jealous lover who could not take it when his girlfriend told him that
she slept with a friend who lived nearby brutally murdered the man in
his sleep.
A jealous construction worker has told the court how he brutally
murdered his friend for having s*x with his ex-girlfriend. The
distressing and tragic story shared by Metro leaves one with tears.
Bernardas Petreikis, 23, knifed fellow Lithuanian, Mantas Augenas,
35, seven times as the defenceless victim slept in his bed at their
shared home.
He launched the vicious attack moments after his former partner Eliana Podlesnaja confessed to sleeping with Mr Augenas.
Petreikis claimed he lost control upon hearing the news but an Old
Bailey jury rejected his defence and convicted him unanimously of
murder.
Sentencing him to life imprisonment, Judge Timothy Pontius said:
‘It is clear he regarded Eliana Podlesnaja as his personal possession
and could not tolerate the idea that she could reject him and take
another lover.
‘That profound jealousy has robbed the victim’s family of a much loved husband, son and father.’
Statements from the victim’s wife Jurgita and 11-year-old daughter Manta were read out at the Old Bailey after the verdict.
The court heard Petreikis came to the UK with Miss Podlesnaja from
Lithuania in July 2014 and shared a room at a multiple-occupancy
terraced house at 108 Shrewsbury Road.
But three days before the murder Miss Podlesnaja ended the
deteriorating relationship and they agreed one of them would move out.
Mr Augenas and his brother Ernestas, who both worked as carpenters, lived in separate rooms in the same house.
On the afternoon of August 30 last year Miss Podlesnaja went to
work at a coffee shop in Euston station while Petreikis, Mr Augenas and
another housemate drank vodka and beer in the garden.
When she returned after 8pm Petreikis began questioning Mr Augenas about his relationship with Miss Podlesnaja.
After Mr Augenas went to bed, Petreikis repeatedly questioned his
ex-girlfriend during a conversation outside the front door of the house
at around 2am.
‘He was repeatedly asking if she had sex with Mantas Augenas,’ said prosecutor Duncan Penny.
‘Initially she denied that but later on she admitted that she had been having sex with him.’
Petreikis then went back inside and locked Miss Podlesnaja out of the house.
She watched through the window as he went to the kitchen before heading into Mr Augenas’ room.
‘Fearing what was about to happen she began screaming and banging on the front door,’ said Mr Penny.
‘She told the police that 30 seconds later he opened the front door and by that time the deed had already been done.
‘She went into Mantas’ room and saw that he was lying on the bed covered in blood.’
Mr Augenas suffered three wounds to the back which punctured his
liver and lungs and four to the chest, including two fatal injuries to
the heart.
When police examined the blanket he was sleeping under they found seven holes, jurors were told.
Mr Penny said: ‘He was stabbed seven times through a blanket on the bed while he lay sleeping.
‘This was not a tussle between love rivals – this was the
deliberate and vengeful extermination of a drunken man as he lay
defenceless in his bed.’
Police, paramedics and an air ambulance were called to the scene in
Bounds Green, north London, at around 2.10am but Mr Augenas died of
blood loss on the way to hospital.
Petreikis fled the scene carrying a rucksack and bottles of alcohol but was arrested two hours later.
During the trial he told jurors: ‘I understand the man died
from my hand and I cannot come to terms with it. He was a good person,
he never did anything wrong to me.’
Analysis of blood samples revealed Petreikis was around three times
the drink drive limit and Mr Augenas was four times the drink drive
limit.
Petreikis, of Shrewsbury Road, Bounds Green, showed no emotion as
he was taken down to the cells. He was jailed for at least 22 years.
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