Two men given life sentences for murder of victim in Aberdeen flat
Two men were jailed for life yesterday after they savagely beat a victim to death in a brutal murder.
Lithuanian Tomas Gulbinavicius turned on his fellow countryman Aleksejus Zarskus, 42, with his Latvian accomplice Janis Karajevs and punched, kicked and stamped on him after a drunken row.
A judge ordered that Karajevs, 30, who has six previous convictions for assault and been jailed three times, should serve at least 14 years in prison.
Lord Uist also ordered Gulbinavicius, 33, should serve a minimum term of 13 years imprisonment for his role in the murder.
The judge told the pair: “You must not assume you will be released at the end of the punishment part. You will be released only when it is considered no longer necessary for the protection of the public that you continue to be confined in prison.” Gulbinavicius and Karajevs had denied murdering Mr Zarskus in an attack on 15 January this year at flat at 684G King Street, Aberdeen, but were both found guilty by a jury in the city.
Lord Uist told them at the High Court in Edinburgh: “On 15 January in the course of an argument, when you were all drunk, both of you battered him repeatedly on the head and body by punching, kicking and stamping on him, as a result of which he died in hospital from blunt force head trauma on 19 January.”