A court has sentenced the defendant in the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl last June to life imprisonment, the National Police of Ukraine said.
"Life imprisonment for the rapist and murderer of seven-year-old Solomiya Tarasiuk: based on evidence gathered by police, a court of first instance has handed down a guilty verdict against the perpetrator," the National Police wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
Police recalled that on June 18 last year, the child’s mother reported to police that her daughter had gone missing from the yard of the family home.
According to the investigation, that evening seven-year-old Solomiya was riding a scooter near her home when her 31-year-old neighbor, who was under the influence of narcotics, invited her over. The young child agreed without hesitation, having previously spoken with him on multiple occasions. Once the girl was inside the man’s home, he raped and then strangled her. A forensic examination found that the cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation. "To conceal the traces of the crime, the perpetrator wrapped the child’s body in cling film that morning, placed it in a travel bag and transported it by taxi several blocks away, where he hid it in a basement near a residential building. The suspect was located and detained by police within hours," the police statement said.
During the inspection of the scene where the girl’s body was found and a search of the suspect’s home, law enforcement seized a number of physical items of evidence, including biological samples from the man and the child, as well as the deceased girl’s scooter.
Upon completing the pre-trial investigation, police charged him under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. "The thorough work of law enforcement served as the basis for the court imposing the harshest possible sentence of life imprisonment," police said.
