The murder of schoolchildren in Vinnytsia region: what has been known
This was reported by a correspondent of hromadske.
The senior prosecutor Oleg Tkalенко at the beginning of the meeting filed a motion to close the court session, in particular because the details of the proceedings concern minors. Additionally, the information disclosed could lead to further traumatization of the victims. This position was supported by defender Oleksandr Matsiuk. Judge Andriy Mykhailenko supported this motion. Ultimately, it was announced that the suspect Ponomaryov was taken into custody for 60 days without the right to bail.
Oleg Tkalенко, head of the Vinnytsia prosecutor's office, reported that the suspect does not fully admit guilt.
He also emphasized that law enforcement agencies have no information about alleged bullying and rape related to the victims of the attack, as was written on social networks. The prosecutor explained that the detained man initially explained his actions as caused by general hostile relations that prompted him to act. However, his final motive is not yet known. Zaryna Maievska, spokesperson for the Vinnytsia police, also reported: no information about the alleged rape of the suspect's younger brother had been received by the police.
According to Prosecutor Tkalенко, the suspect will be assigned an appropriate examination to assess his mental health: “We will definitely do this. Because both the handwriting and the reckless act — to deliver such a number of blows within 40 seconds.”
Also, Zaryna Maievska told about the details of the boys' murder on the "Apostrophe" TV channel.
She reported that according to the investigation, 23-year-old suspect was traveling in a school bus with boys aged 15 and 16 from the village to the city of Shargorod. When they got off at one stop, the boys moved forward, and the man was walking behind.
"And from the words of an eyewitness, who works as a saleswoman in a local store, she saw how the man quickened his pace, caught up with the boys, and began to hit them," Maievska said.
Maievska reported that in spring, between the suspect, who was then working as a teacher, and one of the victims, there was a conflict in the shelter during an air raid. At that time, the man inflicted minor injuries on the teenager, after which he was dismissed from work, charged, and the case was handed over to court.
"Since then, as the relatives note, there have been no encounters or communications between them. The teacher did not have any contact with the older boy who died in his professional activity," the spokeswoman added.
She also said that during the investigative actions, the suspect admitted guilt, but the actual motives and circumstances of the crime are still being established during pre-trial investigation. Currently, the police consider the conflict that occurred in spring as the main version.
Maievska emphasized that local residents and teachers speak positively about the victims: they were well-mannered, active, and showed good academic results.
On the other hand, the mother of the Vinnytsia teacher claims that students beat and bullied her younger son all year so severely that the child cried from pain, and recently it was the "last straw".
In a comment for TSN, the teacher's mother Oksana emphasized that she does not justify her son, but believes that the entire society should know the truth.
«My son did something wrong. I know he had no right to take a life. These children disrupted lessons, one of them sat on the windowsill and did what he wanted. Moreover, this boy was bothering a girl, Oleksiy stopped his actions. The student complained to his mother, and she came to clarify the situation. Oleksiy wrote a remark in his diary, and the mother of the boy yelled at him, saying, why are you writing remarks in your diary?», — describes the beginning of the conflict Ms. Oksana.
«My son wanted to leave school before the New Year, but he was persuaded not to do so because of the lack of teachers. But then the bullying of the teacher began. They came to his house, knocked on his door, and then ran away, wrote him offensive messages. It was a whole “gang” that did all this,» she states.
Furthermore, according to the teacher's mother, the conflict from the students' side only intensified.
«There was an incident in the shelter during an air raid. This Mykola B., who, despite being a student, was as tall as my son, approached Oleksiy and pushed him in the chest. My son made a remark to him, urging not to disrupt the lesson. Told him to sit down because the lesson was not over yet. And he said to him: “What will you do to me?” My son grabbed his elbow and the back of his head, held him for three seconds, and let go. The student realized he couldn't boast in front of other students and started crying. After that, he ran to his mother, who works in the school cafeteria, and told her. The mother called an ambulance and the police. The boy said that the teacher was choking him. Oleksiy then said he no longer wanted to work with these children. And, I emphasize, he submitted a resignation letter voluntarily. It is not true that he was dismissed. Oleksiy explained to the police. “The ambulance” took the student, but then the doctors immediately released him,” the teacher's mother recounted.
According to her, even after her son was expelled from school, they continued to call him, harass him, and threaten him.
«I have a younger son. Now the late student Vladik B. started hitting my younger son on the head last year. He hit, insulted him every time they traveled by bus to school. The younger son endured, and eventually, all this “gang” joined in the beating,” Oksana recounts. - Literally on Tuesday, they attacked my son again, hitting him on the head. This Vladik B. attacked first, and Yulia the girl filmed everything on her phone. When I found out about it, I called my husband and told him. Next to my husband was Oleksiy, who heard all this…»
Furthermore, she says, the younger son complained that his head hurt very badly.
«My heart sank after all this,— the woman says and continues: - They probably wanted to drive him to suicide. Imagine, he couldn’t even tell me, just cried. He said that Vladik beat him, and Yulia filmed it on video. Oleksiy showed the younger son photos of the students he had, from the school archive. The younger son pointed out the bullies. Oleksiy didn’t sleep all night because of all this. Apparently, it was the last straw in all this… In the morning, we went about our business, tending to the livestock, and didn’t notice how Oleksiy left… Then he called my husband and said: “Everything is very bad…”.
According to the teacher's mother, there are five students who drove Oleksiy to tragedy and who bullied her younger son.
«This is Kola B. (the murdered student), he provoked Oleksiy, Vlad B. (the murdered student), who beat Oleksiy’s younger brother, Daniil B., Oleksandr K., Yaroslav G., — the woman states, indicating that the last three students also bullied her younger son and beat him, and adds: “In this ‘gang,’ there is also a girl Yulia, who filmed everything on video. So four were beating, and she was filming. It all started with Vladik B. hitting my son. The son was crying, and he was being filmed during this. All this happened in the bus.”
Regarding Oleksiy, her son-teacher, the woman says: “He is a very decent person and restrained. Always ready to help if someone needed it. He was driven to it. I don’t even know if he has come out of the state of affect now… He was trembling because of all this…”.
