Immigrant who killed woman may be spared jail

A MAN who killed his landlady after blaming her for arranging an attack on him could be spared a jail sentence, a judge said yesterday.

Jonas Norkus, 43, suspected Vitalija Nemniaseviene, 48, a fellow Lithuanian, was involved in underhand dealings, and that she had him beaten up when he crossed her.

He confronted her about the assault, and twice slapped her face before leaving the flat in Glasgow where they stayed.

Ms Nemniaseviene developed a brain haemorrhage and died, and her body lay undiscovered for almost three weeks.

Norkus admitted a charge of culpable homicide which normally carries a jail term, but Lady Dorrian said at the High Court in Edinburgh that there were "enough special features in this case to justify consideration of community service."

She deferred sentence to obtain a community service report.

Norkus came from Lithuania in May last year and worked as a part-time cleaner at Buchanan Street bus station in Glasgow. He lodged with Ms Nemniaseviene in the city's Pinkston Drive.

On 24 October, he was assaulted by two men who were known to his landlady. He asked her about it, and believed she had been complicit in the attack.

"He forcibly slapped the deceased twice on the face with his open palm," said the advocate-depute, Andrew Stewart, QC.

Norkus later told police he had feared for his safety, and had fled to England. He maintained that his landlady had been alive, in a drunken sleep, when he left. Her body was found when a concerned friend alerted the police.

The defence counsel, Ian Duguid, QC, said Norkus, a first offender, had come to Scotland to earn money to pay medical bills for his wife in Lithuania. His supervisor described him as a "thoroughly reliable, pleasant and good employee."