On May 5, 2023, the Debrecen Court sentenced the defendant who stabbed an acquaintance in the stomach on the open street in Debrecen to six years in prison.
The first-instance court found the defendant guilty of attempted murder. The man can be released on parole at the earliest on the day after two-thirds of his sentence has been served. The court confiscated the knife seized from the accused.
According to the facts established by the court, both the accused and the victim were homeless in Debrecen. On the day of the crime, August 4, 2021, both of them consumed a large number of alcoholic beverages during the day, so they became highly intoxicated by the evening hours. Late in the evening, in the company of several other people, they sat on two adjacent benches in downtown Debrecen, where they talked and drank. A dispute arose between the accused and the victim at around 11:20 p.m., and after getting up from the bench, the quarrel continued. The two men started to fight, while the accused took out a knife from his pants pocket and extended its 7.2 centimeter-long blade. The victim noticed this and chewed on the knife with both hands as a defense, but the accused pulled the knife out of his hands and stabbed his acquaintance in the stomach. The victim then started bleeding profusely, the accused got scared and left. A person present at the scene immediately called for help to the victim, who was taken to the hospital.
The arriving police officers identified the defendant in a short time and arrested him in Vár Street, and found the knife during a search of his clothing. The patrol took the man to the detoxification center because of his intoxication.
The victim’s injury took more than eight days to heal, however, taking into account the means and manner of the crime, the intensity of the stabbing and the injured body parts, the perpetrator was aware of the real possibility of a fatal outcome but did not care about it.
Judge Dr. Pál Virágh assessed as an aggravating circumstance the fact that the defendant has a criminal record, the proliferation of violent crimes against persons at the national and local level, and the commission while intoxicated. At the same time, she took into account as mitigating circumstances the fact that the man partially admitted to the crime, the relative passage of time, and the fact that he has to take care of a minor child.
The prosecution took note of the court’s decision, while the defendant and his lawyer appealed the verdict in full. The case continues at the Debrecen Court.
Debrecen Court
