MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian sailor who stabbed a fishing boat’s first mate 40 times after hijacking the vessel to go see his father in Murmansk was “temporarily insane,” investigators said Wednesday.
While the boat was on the northern Barents Sea in October 2012, the sailor allegedly locked the first mate in a cabin and said he would only release him if the vessel set sail for Murmansk so he could see his father.
After seven hours of negotiations, and despite the assurances from the captain that his demands were being met and the ship was headed for Murmansk, the sailor, whose name has not been disclosed, fatally stabbed the hostage and then set the cabin on fire, investigators said.
A forensic examination has established that the alleged hijacker was acting in a state of temporary insanity, investigators said. A criminal case with the recommendation to sentence the alleged killer to psychiatric confinement has been sent to court.
