Court: Kedys’ daughter should live with her mother

VILNIUS - On Dec. 16, Vitalijus Kondratjevas, the judge of the Kedainiai region’s court, decided that the daughter of nationally famous Drasius Kedys should live with her mother, Laimute Stankunaite. “I found no reason which would contradict the return of the girl,” Kondratjevas said. According to the court’s ruling, the seven-year-old girl should be returned to Stankunaite after 14 days if psychologists say that this little girl is ready for such a step.

“I’m thankful to the judge. The court’s decision is important for me, not the judgment of the people,” Stankunaite said leaving the court with the usual escort of state security agents in masks as she returned to her secret living place, which is provided by the state. These security measures were introduced for Stankunaite after Oct. 5, 2009, when Kedys, who said his young daughter had been the victim of a pedophile ring, which included businessman Andrius Usas, gunned down (as prosecutors say) Judge Jonas Furmanavicius and the sister of his former girlfriend Stakunaite in Kaunas. Earlier, Kedys publicly blamed both of those killed, allegedly, by him, as well as his former girlfriend and Usas, for being involved in his daughter’s molestation.

After the double murder in Kaunas, Kedys remained at large, living with a Lithuanian woman in Spain, according to a former Lithuanian police informer. In April 2010, Kedys was found dead near Kaunas. A gun, which was used in the double murder, was found near Kedys’ corpse. Officials concluded that Kedys died due to vomiting caused by alcohol abuse. Usas mysteriously drowned in a very shallow small lake in June 2010. According to a social survey, which was conducted by Prime Consulting social research company on Nov. 21-22, 2011 and published by the magazine Veidas, only 4.4 percent of Lithuanians believe the official versions of the deaths of Kedys and Usas are truthful – the majority of Lithuanians think that both of them were killed.

Before these series of deaths, Kedys and Stankunaite had a long fight over their daughter. Then the court decided that the daughter should live with her father due to a statement by the police, which accused Stankunaite of creating conditions for her daughter’s pedophile molestation, though no police investigation was made and the police’s statement was based only on suggestions from Kedys, according to the daily Lietuvos Rytas and LNK TV.

To make this story even more complicated, in November, Mindaugas Zalimas, a former police informer who claims to be a former friend of Kedys, stated that the police knew about the planned killings of Oct. 5, 2009, and did nothing to prevent them. This statement caused the resignation of Lithuania’s highest police chiefs and an investigation is pending on their possible wrongdoing. Since the killings of Oct. 5, 2009, Kedys’ daughter has been living under the temporary custody of Judge Neringa Venckiene, who is the sister of Kedys.

According to Zalimas’ interview to LNK TV, Venckiene inspired Kedys to commit the killings of Oct. 5, 2009. After the court’s ruling of Dec. 16, some 20 fans of Kedys gathered near the house of Venckiene in the small town of Garliava, near Kaunas. They stated that they will not allow the implementation of the court’s ruling. They decorated the fence, which surrounds the posh house, with posters stating “By defending Kedyte, I’ll defend other children too” and “Stop pedophilia.” The latter poster is decorated with a portrait of Kedys. The court made an identical decision on the return of Kedys’ daughter to her mother 1.5 years ago, but its implementation was blocked by a crowd in Garliava (then the crowd was several times bigger), and then the court’s decision was revoked, in what was an unprecedented move in Lithuania’s legal practice.