A judge has warned two Lithuanian youths they face life in jail after being convicted of murdering a father-of-two from Peterborough.
The jury at Cambridge Crown Court (Thursday) convicted Erikas Cicienas (20), left in the picture, and Ricardas Kozevnikovas (19), of murdering Piotr Bielicki (25) in a savage and unprovoked attack in Peterborough.
However, co-defendant, Augustinas Baltrunas (19), left the court a free man after he was found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter.
Mr Bielicki, who moved to the UK from his native Poland in 2005, suffered more than 60 injuries at the hands of Cicienas and Kozevnikovas close to Stanground Bridge, at the Embankment, on September 13, 2008. He was also left with an imprint of a shoe on his head after being stamped on by the attackers.
In remanding the pair to be sentenced at a later date, Judge Anthony Bate said: “You have both been convicted by a jury of murder. The sentence is prescribed by law as life”.
It took the 11 jurors two-and-a-half days to deliver their verdicts, which followed a five-week trial detailing Mr Bielicki’s murder. One of the jurors had been released prior to deliberations due to ill-health.
The court had heard evidence from Mr Bielicki’s friends who described how he was with them at a barbecue party at about 7pm, but had got quite drunk and disappeared two hours later.
Patrycja Marzec, who arrived late to the party, raised the alarm after finding a man – who she did not recognise at the time – unconscious on the ground.
After asking friends at the party to go with her, they found Mr Bielicki and carried him to their car before taking him to Peterborough District Hospital. However, he died in the early hours of the following day from his extensive injuries.
A pathologist said Mr Bielicki had suffered 25 bruises to his head, six broken ribs and was kicked so hard that blood vessels in his stomach burst.
PERCY WELLER 