A 23-year-old man from Latvia has been sentenced to serve four years in prison after he admitted to manslaughter in the death of a man in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Kaspars Valters was sentenced June 23 for the September 2006 killing of 56-year-old James McDonald, British and Northern Irish media report. He pleaded to manslaughter in May.
McDonald was severely beaten about the head apparently in a robbery attempt, according to media reports. The body of the Dumfries, Scotland, resident was found at a house in Belfast on Sept. 6, 2006. McDonald had been so badly beaten that it took police days to identify him.
The victim had been out drinking and met Valters, who invited him to his apartment for a party, media reports said.
McDonald’s family was outraged that Valters was able to plead to manslaughter rather than face the more serious charge of murder, according to the British newspaper Sunday Mail.
© 1995-2024 Latvians Online
Please contact us for editorial queries, or for permission to republish material. Disclaimer: The content of Web sites to which Latvians Online provides links does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Latvians Online, its staff or its sponsors.
It’s really very sad that the murderer escaped appropriate punishment but the victim should also have been more cautious in choosing his drink mates among vagrant slaves.