The Berat court has remanded in prison Kristo Mema (alias Kontandin Oxhaj), the 63-year-old perpetrator of the stabbing murder of a tourist, an incident that occurred three days ago in the Berat castle.
The prosecutor in the case, Renato Tosku, after presenting the circumstances of the incident, requested the security measure "prison arrest" for Mema, for the criminal offense of "Murder", provided for by the article of the Criminal Code.
After hearing the defense attorney of the perpetrator of the murder, Judge Renis Bega considered the arrest of citizen Kristo Mema (alias Kontandin Oxhaj), 63, "legal" and assigned him the security measure of "prison arrest".
It is learned that during the hearing, the perpetrator expressed remorse and stated that everything happened in a fit of rage, after the tourist had insulted and cursed at him by his family. In the courtroom, he also apologized to the victim's family.
How the incident happened:
The incident occurred on the evening of October 28 in the Berat city castle. The argument between the perpetrator and the victim began after the latter touched the victim's horse, which the perpetrator used to take tourists around the castle for a fee.
It is learned that the perpetrator of the incident, 63-year-old Kristo Mema (alias Kontandin Oxhaj), after seeing citizen Keli Hoxha touching the horse with his hand, told him not to touch it again because the horse - according to him - was not well and was agitated.
After this, the perpetrator and the victim argued and at this moment, the perpetrator took out the knife he had hidden in the horse's saddle and stabbed him. The perpetrator then went to the apartment, tied the horse to the shed, took some food and hid in one of the castle's caves to escape the police.
The victim, Keli Hoxha, 42 years old, a resident of Tirana and born in Tropoja, could not survive the injuries he sustained and died upon arrival at the Berat Regional Hospital.
The perpetrator was caught a few hours later, hiding in the "dummy cave", near the Church of St. Michael. The perpetrator Kristo Mema (alias Kontandin Oxhaj), 63, committed a murder in 1993 in Berat, but after the incident he fled to Greece for about 25 years, where he also changed his name. He did not serve a single day in prison for this murder, as the statute of limitations had expired.