A 21-year-old man, Ernestas Juska, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 26 years for the murder and post-mortem sexual assault of a family friend, Nina Denisova, in Dartford, Kent.
Juska, who pleaded guilty, attacked the 39-year-old woman in the early hours of the morning following a party at his mother’s home in August 2024. Court proceedings revealed that he stabbed Ms. Denisova multiple times in the face, neck, and chest using a large kitchen knife.
Following the attack, Juska reportedly walked to a nearby bus stop and asked a passerby to call the police, admitting that he had just killed someone.
Prosecutor Danny Moore KC told Maidstone Crown Court that Juska, who had consumed significant amounts of alcohol and cocaine that evening, had been criticised by his mother for being unemployed. Feeling angry and wanting to “lash out,” he targeted Ms. Denisova, who was asleep in an upstairs bedroom.
The court heard that Ms. Denisova, described as a “happy and hard-working” woman who had moved to the UK from Lithuania, struggled after being initially stabbed. Juska then continued the attack, later telling police he “felt nothing” following the incident.
Judge Mr Justice Dias, passing the sentence, said, “The last moments of Nina Denisova’s life were lived in extreme, unexpected, and undeserved horror.” The judge also noted the impact of Juska’s long-standing fascination with violent pornography on his actions.
Juska, a Lithuanian national who moved to the UK at age eight, admitted both the murder and sexual abuse of Ms. Denisova’s body. Detective Sergeant Max Gregory described the crime as an “act of shocking and senseless brutality, seemingly without reason or any hint of remorse.”
The victim’s brother, Aleksandras Denisova, said her death had left a “big hole” in the family and expressed the family’s enduring grief. “We can never forgive him for what he’s done,” he said.
Juska’s defence, Beth O’Reilly KC, told the court her client was emotionally frozen, hopeless, and helpless at the time. She added that he had expressed remorse, though she acknowledged that his apologies might provide little comfort to the victim’s family.
