“I cried and drank”: the Ukrainian woman’s remote testimony in the Kaunas court was interrupted by an explosion

in 2023 October 18 around 10:30 p.m. A. Juozapavičius Ave. In Kaunas, the Ukrainian K. Yushko violated the requirements of the KET, which stipulates the prohibition of driving vehicles for intoxicated persons, and drove a Range Rover Sport car while under the influence of alcohol.

in 1987 the car driven by a woman who was born then hit road barriers, a light pole, and even hung over a bridge on one wheel. She was assigned a 1.85 percentile. drunkenness

He did not agree to the arrest

The driver was prosecuted and lost the car. When adopting the criminal order and imposing the punishment, the court took into account the fact that the accused already had 19 fines issued to her for traffic violations at that time. All these fines “accumulated” in a period slightly longer than a year.

Since she did not pay the previously imposed fines, in 2023 November 30 By the criminal order adopted by the Kaunas Chamber of the Kaunas District Court, K. Yushko was sentenced to a final 30-day arrest sentence with its execution suspended for a period of 8 months.

A woman is also obliged to start working, to continue working, not to leave the house between 22:00 and 06:00, if it is not related to work or study, and not to use psychoactive substances.

The convict was also given criminal sanctions: a two-year driving ban and the confiscation of the Range Rover Sport car.

Although she had agreed with everything until then, she regretted it, in the end K. Yushko appealed this criminal order, so the court started examining this case in the order of oral proceedings. The process got stuck – the accused did not appear at any of the scheduled hearings, so on April 15 the judge finally decided to order forced removal – the police began searching for the missing K. Yushko.

It turned out to be in Ukraine

Finally, it turned out that from 2022 A woman who lived in Lithuania returned to Ukraine in February. April 24 she already participated in the meeting remotely.

The divorced mother of two minor children said on Wednesday that she recently underwent surgery and decided to return home to the Dnipropetrovsk region.

She testified that she has never been convicted before, that she understands what she is accused of in the case in Kaunas court.

“I want everything to be resolved, I don’t know what to do, I agree to cooperate,” said K. Yushko.

What happened that day?

The prosecutor of the case denounced the indictment. The accused admitted her guilt and began to tell what happened that day when she got behind the wheel of a car drunk.

“I learned from Ukraine that my friend was killed in the war, I was at A. Juozapavičius Ave. at that time. “Shilo”. While sitting in the car I was on a video call and drinking brandy. I felt normal, since the house was near the bridge, I decided to drive myself. But the road was wet, I lost control of the car. <...> I understand that I have committed a violation, I do not deny it,” the Ukrainian woman testified in court.

When the judge asked how much she had drunk at that time, the woman answered: 300 grams.

K. Yushko understood that she could face criminal liability. When asked why he decided to drive and commit a crime, he answered: “I don’t know, I was under a lot of stress, I cried and drank.” How do I rate my behavior? Of course it’s bad. I understand that this is inappropriate behavior for the driver.”

Penalty or not?

Then K. Yushko testified to the court that she had never committed a driving violation in her life, although she had 13 years of experience. This is not true, because, according to the case file, she “collected” 19 fines for traffic violations in Lithuania during the year.

When asked why she pleaded guilty and asked for a hearing when everything had already been resolved by the criminal order, the accused explained that the order was for arrest, and she did not agree with it, because she is raising two minor children and cannot be arrested in Lithuania.

I was under a lot of stress, crying and drinking.

To the question of whether she would have the money to pay the fine, K. Yushko assured that she would come to Lithuania next month and ask to arrange the payment of the fine in installments.

Her temporary residence permit in Lithuania expired in March. As the accused testified, no one will hand it over to her until she pays all the assigned fines.

Then she was asked again about administrative violations. Then the accused already admitted that she had not paid part of the fines, because she had to prepare for the operation, there was no possibility.

Connection lost

When asked what she was doing at the moment, she suddenly lost contact with the accused. Her defense attorney Edgaras Jautakis informed the court at the time that the defendant warned him even before the start of the hearing that there was a poor internet connection in the environment she was in due to ongoing shootings.

Then the lawyer got a message. K. Yushko explained that the connection was lost because the light went out – something exploded somewhere nearby.

It was no longer possible to continue the session, so the prosecutor asked for a break.

The next meeting will be held on May 21.