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Kapsik sentencing delayed after request from victim's family

By: Aldo Santin

Posted: 03/15/2013 11:27 AM | Comments: 0

A last-minute request from family members in the Czech Republic has resulted in a three-week delay in the sentencing of Miloslav Kapsik.

Kapsik, 63, was convicted earlier this week for the brutal murder of his wife, Ludmila, in their Jefferson Avenue apartment in March 2010.

Kapsik was to have been sentenced this morning but Justice Karen Simonsen adjourned the case to April 4.

Crown prosecutor Jennifer Mann said she received a request from the sister and niece of Ludmila, who want to submit a victim impact statement.

The Kapsiks had no children but Mann said Ludmila's family in the Czech Republic has been kept informed about developments in the case for the past three years.

Victim impact statements are submitted to the court after a verdict has been rendered but before the presiding judge imposes a sentence.

Mann said the family has been communicating through email, which have to be translated back and forth from English to Czech and back to English.

"Out of respect for the family, we should be able to provide them that opportunity," Mann said.

Mann said Ludmila's sister is 70 years old and says that she has has suffered severe emotional distress following her younger sister's murder.

A jury convicted Kapsik of second degree murder, rejecting his request that he found not criminally responsible due to severe mental issues he was suffering at the time.

Simonsen must decide how long Kapsik must serve in prison before he is eligible for parole. Following their verdict, a poll of the jurors found four of them said he should serve a minimum of 10 years before being eligible for parole, one juror said he should serve 15 years, and the other seven jurors made no recommendation.

On the night of the killing, Kapsik and his wife were watching a hockey game in their Jefferson Avenue apartment when he got up, picked up a hammer from a storage room and attacked his wife from behind. He struck her 57 times, even as she tried to crawl away from him.

After the attack, Kapsik admitted he washed his wife’s blood from his hands and face, changed his clothes and sat on his couch for about an hour before calling 911, and telling the operator, "I hurt my wife, send the police."

When questioned by police for hours, Kapsik offered no explanation for his actions. He did not testify at his trial.

The couple had been married for 36 years and there was no known previous history of domestic violence.

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