2024-07-06 14:58:59
Kristina Janulevičienė, Head of the Communication Sub-Department of the Alytus County Chief Police Commissariat, to the news portal lrytas.lt confirmed that a pre-trial investigation is currently being conducted regarding the alleged rape, the athlete has been charged with suspicion.
The statement of the foreign citizen was received on May 28, and the rider was arrested the next day. Currently, he is not in custody and has been given a more lenient remand than arrest.
Portal lrytas.lt according to the data, the foreigner cooperated with a Lithuanian rider much older than her in the field of horse sports. She is not a horsewoman herself.
Law enforcement did not immediately inform the public about this investigation – there were no reports in the national or Alytus region’s summaries of daily events.
Lina Eviltienė, the deputy chief prosecutor of the Alytus District Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed this lrytas.ltthat such a case has been filed, but both she and the temporary leading prosecutor Laura Mačiulitė-Valaitė, the prosecutor Neringa Kaminskienė, refrained from further comments, directing the portal to the Communications Department of the General Prosecutor’s Office.
At the time of writing the article, the responses from this department have not yet been received – when we receive them, we will add them to the publication.
The rider denies the allegations
Showjumping competitions were held in Balkasody on May 24-26, and according to the knowledge of the owner of the stud farm T. Barščis, a party was organized for the participants of the competition.
The foreigner appealed to the law enforcement, claiming that she was sexually assaulted by a well-known Lithuanian rider.
After collecting the initial data, the officers raised suspicions against him, seeing a sufficiently serious basis for it.
After learning what happened, the girl’s father, a rich foreign businessman, quickly came to Lithuania.
An athlete is suspected of rape for a news portal lrytas.lt stated that he does not admit his guilt, but, like the law enforcement officials, he refused to comment on anything: “The accusations are wrong. A pre-trial investigation is underway, it will show everything.”
Lived in the territory of the horse farm
The accusations of the rape of a girl who cooperated with him against the businessman T. Barščius, which depressed the rider, are known.
“I don’t know the exact details. The two of them trained together for a while, engaged in horse sports, lived on the territory of my stable (there are cottages for guests – Ed.) – maybe they were close friends, and then, it is not excluded, anger arose between them”, said T. Barštys, who with the victim’s father previously connected by business affairs.
According to T. Barščis, the rider and the girl had previously “walked holding hands”.
The owner of the stud farm, who gave positive feedback about the athlete, did not rule out that he could have sought revenge or profit from him in this way.
It is true that T. Barštys did not provide any evidence, important facts to support these considerations.
The businessman mentioned that he had heard from horse sports people that between the foreign girl and the aforementioned rider, who were also at the showjumping competition in Balkasody at the end of May, a fairly close relationship had been established – at least that was the impression the people around them had when they looked at them.
According to T. Barščis, the statement to the police was not written by the citizen of a foreign country immediately after the possible crime, but 3-4 days later.
According to the businessman, she allegedly had close relationships with other men before.
“The girl’s statement to law enforcement does not convince me: I would think 50 percent. before 50”, explained T. Barštys, adding right there that he believes the rider more than her words.
Recognized as a victim
However, if the relationship was close, this of course does not give anyone the right to use force or coercion.
Whether the rider suspected of rape is guilty will be revealed during the law enforcement investigation, and possibly during the court process.
The girl who wrote the statement is officially recognized as a victim.
If the athlete’s guilt is proven, he faces up to 7 years in prison.
2024-07-06 14:58:59