At the Klaipėda District Court, the jubilee – tenth – verdict was heard by Vilmantas Plivė, a Klaipėda resident who recently celebrated his 63rd birthday while in custody and behind bars.
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The dangerous recidivist, who had been convicted nine times before and who attempted to burn two homeless brothers alive 15 years ago, was once again sentenced to a long prison term by Themis.
The Klaipėda resident, who has no permanent residence, was found guilty of attempted murder for hooligan motives. He was sentenced to 14 years and 3 months of imprisonment.
The state prosecutor, Arūnas Saunorius from the Criminal Prosecution Division of the Klaipėda District Prosecutor’s Office, requested a harsher sentence than the average imprisonment term provided in the sanction – 16 years of imprisonment, because the crime was committed by a dangerous recidivist.
The Criminal Code stipulates that a dangerous recidivist is sentenced to a stricter punishment than the average imprisonment term established in the article’s sanction for the committed crime.
V. Plivė was ordered to pay the state 333.33 EUR in procedural costs for the secondary legal aid provided to the victim.
Reduced by half
The panel of judges partially granted the civil claim filed by the victim. The man who survived death was awarded 500 euros in non-pecuniary damages from V. Plivė.
The latter requested 1000 euros. He claimed that V. Plivė’s behavior frightened him greatly, he experienced severe stress during the crime, and could not calm down all day. Later, headaches began, he could not fall asleep at night, could not calm down, felt stress, fear, and started taking sedatives.
In court, the man confirmed that he continued working after the incident, and the unpleasant experiences lasted about a week.
Shoplifted at “Akropolis”
On the evening of April 1 this year, the crime was committed at the “Akropolis” shopping and entertainment center located on Taikos Avenue in the port city. Security guards detained a drunk (1.39‰) V. Plivė who was already leaving the cash registers, suspecting theft.
V. Plivė paid for bottles of mineral water and beer but tried to steal two bottles of vodka.
He also stole a knife with a blade length of 122 mm, width 23 mm, and handle length 112 mm. Later, he claimed he really needed it for the shelter where he lived.
While still in the store, he unpacked the knife to check its sharpness.
Only a second was missing
Brought to the security room of the shopping center, where documents regarding the theft were being filled out, V. Plivė insulted one security guard with obscene words and threatened to cut off his head and kill him.
The guard did not react to the threats. He sat silently watching the monitor, observing what was happening in the shopping center.
Soon, V. Plivė asked to use the toilet, and a colleague of the security guard, later recognized as the victim, took him there.
Returning to the post, V. Plivė walked behind the security guard sitting by the monitor, continued insulting him, and threatened to harm him.
Suddenly, V. Plivė grabbed the unsuspecting man by the neck with his left hand from behind, and with the other hand pulled a knife from the inside pocket of his jacket and pressed it to the guard’s neck.
According to witnesses, only a moment was missing before the loss of life.
“Without cause, that is for hooligan motives, with the intent to stab the victim with a knife, that is to kill, he wrapped his left hand around the neck of the seated security guard and raised the knife with his right hand to strike him,” the court stated.
The victim actively resisted – grabbed the left hand and freed himself.
Another security guard present grabbed V. Plivė’s right hand, which held the knife, and twisted it, causing him to drop the knife.
After twisting V. Plivė’s hands, the security guards handcuffed him and called the police.
Until the patrol arrived, V. Plivė continued threatening that he would definitely cut off the guard’s head.
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The officers detained the drunk suspect and locked him in the Klaipėda County Police Headquarters detention facility.
Intent – to kill
The panel of judges of the Criminal Cases Division of the Klaipėda District Court concluded that V. Plivė did not kill the security guard, meaning the crime was not completed due to reasons beyond his control.
“Evaluating the evidence collected in the case, the panel of judges concluded that the accused committed the crime for hooligan motives – he attempted to use violence against the victim for a trivial reason (convinced he was detained without cause), ignoring basic moral and behavioral norms, demonstrating disrespect to others.
The panel noted that the accused’s hooligan motives manifested as unprovoked aggression, an attack on the victim known only by sight (due to the accused’s presence in the store where the victim works) and an attempt to kill him without any personal relationship,” confirmed Monika Vismantė, representative of the Klaipėda District Court.
The court noted that such behavior by V. Plivė (quick approach behind the unsuspecting victim sitting with his back to him, wrapping the neck with a hand, and raising a knife) and the chosen weapon for injuring the person indicate not a desire to scare the victim but, on the contrary, confirm that by raising the knife and aiming at a vital body part – the neck – V. Plivė clearly understood the danger of his actions and acted to achieve a specific result – to take the victim’s life.
Committed crime without expunged record
When sentencing, the court took into account that V. Plivė committed one very serious crime against human life, which was interrupted at the attempt stage. Also considered were the nature and degree of danger of the committed crime, the form of guilt, and data characterizing the accused’s personality.
Unmarried V. Plivė is unemployed, registered as a person without a permanent residence, administratively punished, previously convicted multiple times, including for an attempt to commit a very serious crime against human life.
V. Plivė committed a new crime without having his previous convictions expunged, a little more than seven months after being released from a penal institution after serving a long-term imprisonment sentence.
Dangerous recidivist
V. Plivė was recognized as a dangerous recidivist at the beginning of 2012 when, together with a partner half his age, Žydrūnas Jucys, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to burn two homeless brothers alive.
The macabre crime was committed by V. Plivė and also homeless Ž. Jucys in early August 2010. Firefighters found two homeless men inside a brick garage in the southern district of the port city after extinguishing the fire at night.
Vytautas, 23, and his brother Nerijus Viskontas, seven years older, were alive but heavily intoxicated with smoke.
Although one of them even fell into a coma, doctors managed to save the lives of the Klaipėda residents.
The victims told the police that several people locked them in the garage where they lived and set fire to the door.
The door lock was wrapped with metal wire, so the brothers, unable to free themselves by their own strength, were saved by having a mobile phone and calling the emergency number 112. Otherwise, they probably would not have survived.
It was established that V. Plivė and Ž. Jucys took revenge with fire for an insult. While all were drinking together, one of the Viskontas brothers called the repeatedly convicted V. Plivė a “rooster” several times.
The brother did not escape death
Nerijus Viskontas, who barely escaped a terrible death in the flames with his older brother Vytautas, did not escape the cruel fate assigned to him. The man did not suspect that the fatal blows would be dealt by his older brother.
The brother killed the brother in the summer of 2012 during the traditional Sea Festival held in the port city.
On the festive Saturday morning, a dead man was found in a park on Baltijos Avenue, with his face and head severely beaten. After starting a pre-trial investigation, the police determined that he was not one of the participants of the festival held in the city those days.
After it was revealed that the deceased was Vytautas Viskontas, born in 1983 in Klaipėda, the main suspect was soon detained – his brother Nerijus Viskontas, born in 1976. Both brothers were known as persons without permanent residence.
Nerijus Viskontas admitted to committing this crime. He did not hide that he had previously repeatedly used violence against the younger brother when they disagreed over money. However, that weekend, his blows with a stone became fatal.
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The brothers’ sister killed their father in 2003.
