Tragic holiday in Varėna district: spouses accused of fatally beating a young man

In the courtroom and tears, and the unanswered question

“I just want to ask one question:” What for? “- Aldona Kundrotienė, a resident of Matuizai District, Varėna District, who buried her son, asked E. and I. Vilbikus while looking at the defendant in the Kaunas Regional Court.

When the court began hearing the E. Kundrot murder case, there was no lack of emotion in the courtroom. The parents, who lost a son, told the late sister, through tears, the horrible experiences the family had.

The spouses from the same Matuizai village, Inga Vilbikienė, 46, and her husband, 47, farmer Edikas Vilbikas, who was convicted in the past, sat on the bench.

“I never touched my son in my life, and they killed him,” lamented the mother who lost her son.

Both the late E. Kundrotas and his parents, who had a shop in the village of Matuizai, were familiar with the villagers of the same village, never in conflict.

Both were beaten, but only one was tried for the murder

Everything changed irreversibly after the celebrations of Saint John’s Day on June 23, 2019 at the stadium of the village school. E. Vilbikas is accused of hitting Kundrot twice on the head and killing him for no apparent reason.

His wife I. Vilbikiene was also charged with murder in the pre-trial investigation, but after the case reached court, her actions, hitting a beer bottle through incense, hitting her face with the palms of her hands , were not treated as murder, but only as a disturbance of public order.

Both the parents who have lost their son and the lawyer who represents them, Edgaras Dereškevičius, do not agree with this. He submitted a request to the court to return the case to the prosecutor’s office to correct the charge and I. Vilbikien siendo is on trial for murder.

According to the lawyer, both drunken spouses acted as accomplices, so the responsibility for the death of E. Kundrot lies not only with E. Vilbikas, who hit him twice on the head with his fist, but also with his wife, who was hit by a bottle in the incense. The argument is also based on the conclusion of the doctors that it was this blow that could have affected the death of the young man.

This request of the representative of the family of the deceased was rejected by the court because the allegations made could be modified during the trial.

The Vilbikus spouses are defended in court by renowned lawyers: the former prosecutor of the Attorney General Aidas Mažeika and Romualdas Mikliušas, who has represented the defendants in several high-profile cases and is currently involved in the corruption case.

From the capital to the hometown – to help parents

After the case was heard by the Criminal Chamber of the Kaunas Regional Court, the parents of the deceased stated that the son, who lived in his hometown in the capital and worked as a croupier in a gambling house, returned two years ago .

A young man from here helped some parents who had a store buy a house that he was going to repair. According to his parents, he dreamed of going to work on cruise ships in the United States, waiting for this job offer, but hopes were not destined to come true.

“He became a serious and responsible man, the way I wanted him to be. Edgar was happy. You said, Mom, you can’t imagine how happy I am.

Therefore, there is no way I can forgive them, because they have taken everything from him and us. I have never touched my son in my life and he has been killed, ”said the murdered man’s mother, crying in court.

The woman recalled that when her son went out to San Juan in the town, he did not think of anything bad. Especially since Edgar did not abuse alcohol, he was calm and friendly.

Kundrot’s parents did not see what happened during the sinister tragedy. They stayed home while they waited for the next day’s work at the family store.

Found lying on the ground

The deceased’s father, Vytautas Kundrotas, said: when he got up early in the morning, his son was already home. The father heard him vomit twice and then lay down on the bed.

Probably believing that his son’s health had deteriorated due to the alcohol he had consumed during the holidays, he went to work, took a bottle of mineral water and a tonic drink from the family store, and left it on his son’s bed when Homecoming.

Suspecting nothing, V. Kundrotas returned to the store around 8 pm in the morning, his wife called him, who had found their sick son in the room.

“When I got to my son’s room, I found him lying on the floor. I quickly opened it and realized that it was very bad for him. The body was a little numb, paralyzed, I realized that it was not caused by drunkenness.

I started to wipe my face with a towel, calling an ambulance. I tried to speak, but he couldn’t say a word, “recalled A. Kundrotienė.

The woman mentioned that at first neither she nor the doctors at the Varėna Hospital understood what was happening. Especially since no signs of violence were observed on E. Kundrot’s unconscious body, only a scratch on his hand.

“I did not know what was happening. Totally numb, brain thinking or heart attack. The doctors did not know what had happened to him, ”recalled the deceased’s mother.

Lying to the boy’s mother complaining, she swore by her children

“The man found out that there were fights in the stadium and Vilbikai beat Edgar. I called I. Vilbikiene, but she denied that Edgar was not there,” says the mother of the murdered man in court.

The woman recalled not believing these words, asking to say what happened during the celebration, as it was not yet clear what caused her son’s coma. According to her, I. Vilbikienė finally admitted that Edgar was on Midsummer day, but he ran away.

A. Kundrotienė recalled that he was particularly hurt by the words of a later neighbor from the same town, who became his defendant, that his son could have been submerged in drugs for drugs. When she learned from her mother that Edgar did not use drugs, she maintained her position.

“Maybe Donatas (ex-friend – ed.) Served beer?” I saw his eyes shine. ” I. Vilbikienė was cited in court as a woman who had been recognized as a victim and had lost her son.

Information that there were fights during the celebration of Saint John’s Day, in which Vilbikai’s wife also participated, according to the killer’s parents, began to spread very quickly in the village. At the time, it was still unclear under what circumstances Edgar, who was soon able to return home and was soon submerged in a coma, had been injured, or the danger of these injuries.

“I swear to my children that Edgar did not take part in those fights,” recalled A. Kundrotienė the words of I. Vilbikienė in the courtroom.

The woman who lost her son drew attention to a significant detail: that day I. Vilbikienė called her very often, perhaps twelve times, and asked about Edgar’s health. He called not only her, but also other familiar villagers.

“He has not called me before, and explained that Edgar did not participate in the fight, he swore by his children. Why was he suddenly so interested in their health?” Asked A. Kundrotienė.

Life ended a week later

On the same day, E. Kundrotas, who had fallen into a coma, was transferred from Varėna to the Kaunas clinics for resuscitation. After the tests or surgery, their relatives heard a diagnosis that did not promise anything good: a lot of blood spilled into the brain and many of them died. Doctors hinted that the chances of survival were not very high, and even if a miracle happened, the young man would no longer be able to live a full life.

“If you only knew when all people love him… There was not and will not be such a sincere and good boy in Matuiz. He wasn’t in conflict, he was good, he wasn’t mad at anything. All the residents of Matuizai ordered Mass so that only he would recover, ”A. Kundrotienė said through tears in court.

At that time, in the village of Matuizai, people spoke by word of mouth about the tragic Jonin and the participants in the struggles that were taking place there. This information also reached the Kundrotai family store.

“The girl who told me told me that she had seen E. Vilbikas hit my son so much on the head that he had dropped this post,” said the murdered man’s mother.

He said he had also received more stories from people who saw tragic fights on St. John’s Day.

After the police launched the pre-trial investigation, a week after the death of E. Kundrotas in the Kaunas clinics, a lot of data was collected that the drunken Vilbikai spouses were beaten on the head. According to the case, E. Vilbikas hit his head twice with his fist and his wife hit the victim with a bottle of beer.

Not only the killer’s parents, but also his sister Jurgita were recognized as victims in the case. When testifying in court, the woman recalled that she had lived in her hometown before studying, so she knew both defendants.

“I remember how much Joninė was, they always ended up with Vilbikai fights. I. Vilbikienė was characterized by aggression,” said the murdered boy’s sister.

Testifying in court that the late father, V. Kundrotas, even called the woman “superhuman”, he said when he saw her drunk kick and hit her husband.

“She is not a man here, she felt unpunished, she is not afraid of anything,” said V. Kundrotas, finding her words difficult.

Hundreds of thousands of lawsuits have been filed in the case.

The loss of the brother, the moral damage suffered was estimated by the sister at 100,000. euros. A little bigger, 150 thousand. The lawsuit was filed by the mother who lost her son.

The father of the deceased, V. Kundrotas, did not respond to the question of the president of the court of judges, Danutė Giačaitė, on how much he assessed the non-material damage suffered.

“I have great respect for judgment, but will you explain to me how much my son’s life is worth? Can it have a price?

When they called me from the Kaunas clinics and told me that my son was dead, my life stopped. I don’t want anything anymore, “the man said in a lament.

Both defendants, both E. Vilbikas and his wife I. Vilbikienė, testified in court that they understood what they were accused of, but said that they denied the accusations and did not admit guilt.

Spouses awaiting sentencing exercised their right not to testify in court and agreed to do so only after all witnesses had been questioned.