Egita Jaunmaize guilty of impeding prosecution

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Egita Jaunmaize was found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of staging her housemate Antra Ozolina’s suicide to impede the prosecution of her boyfriend for strangling her. The proceedings were reported on 15 February 2018.

Jaunmaize was charged with impeding her boyfriend’s apprehension or prosecution, knowing or believing him to have murdered Ozolina or committed another arrestable offence. The charge concerned their home in Kilnaleck, County Cavan, on or about 27 June 2014. She pleaded not guilty to carrying out the offence without reasonable excuse.

She admitted placing a blue cord around Ozolina’s neck to simulate suicide. She told gardaí that she feared for her life and was acting on her boyfriend’s orders after seeing him strangle Ozolina. She said he punched her when she tried to push him off, grabbed her by the throat when she threatened to contact gardaí, and forced her to place the rope around Ozolina’s neck.

The jury returned an 11-to-one guilty verdict after three hours and 47 minutes of deliberations. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy remanded Jaunmaize in custody for sentencing on 26 February 2018.