Abroad
Veteran Member
A 26-year-old man who strangled his mother in their County Down home during a psychotic episode will spend a minimum of five years in prison.
Viktors Arustamovs was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court for the unlawful killing of his mother Lija Arustamovs.
The 52-year-old was killed in their home on Main Street, Portavogie, on 12 December 2015.
The judge said Arustamovs suffered from an "untreated psychotic illness" at the time of the killing.
The court heard that the defendant strangled his mother as she lay in bed.
It also heard that Arustamovs took a break from strangling her but resumed when he heard a voice in his head telling him: "If you start, you have to finish."
The judge accepted the killing was not pre-meditated, that the defendant himself alerted the authorities and that he had expressed remorse.
It was also accepted that the defendant was suffering from a psychotic episode that "in all likelihood" was precipitated by drug use.
At an earlier hearing, the court was told Arustamovs came to Northern Ireland in 2011 from Latvia, and had worked on the fishing boats in Portavogie until 2015, when his psychotic problems started to manifest.
Just prior to his mother's death, Arustamovs had been living rough in Dublin and Belfast before returning to the County Down village.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38655726