Man kills girlfriend and fries her legs after getting drunk and becoming hungry
A 41-year-old man who felt hungry after a drinking party reportedly killed his girlfriend and cooked her legs for consumption.
Identified only as Oleksandr, the man is said to have been frying and eating his victim's limbs when authorities raided his house in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, the Mirror reported.
Police said Oleksandr was having a boozy party with his 50-year-old girlfriend on April 13 amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Investigators learned that at some point during the party, Oleksandr grabbed a kitchen knife and slit the woman's throat open, killing her instantly.
The man checked on his girlfriend and ensured she was dead before reportedly hacking off her legs and stuffing the rest of her remains into a sack.
According to local media, Oleksandr waited for it to turn dark before dragging the sack about 500 meters from his house and hiding it among some reeds by the Inhulets river.
A family who was walking in the area the following day spotted the gruesome remains.
"We [he and his children] were looking for a fishing spot when we stumbled upon the sack," Mykola, a father-of-two, told local media. "I saw naked buttocks sticking out of it and realized it was human remains. I called the police."
The victim was immediately identified by locals, who directed police to the address of her boyfriend. Upon arrival at Oleksandr's residence, officers reportedly felt sick after discovering that he was frying flesh from the victim's legs on the pan and eating it.
Ukrainian media reported that he later admitted to officers he "cooked his girlfriend's legs and ate them after getting hungry." Authorities subsequently launched a criminal case for premeditated murder against Oleksandr, who confessed to the crime.
"The suspect stabbed the woman with a knife causing her death," Police spokesman Sergey Lukashov said. "He hacked the victim's legs off and put the rest of her body into a sack. He dragged the sack to the river and left it in the reeds."
Oleksandr is currently remanded in custody and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The investigation continues.
Restrictive measures like lockdown and mandatory isolation to contain the novel coronavirus have raised concerns over the increased risk of domestic violence and abuse.
France and Australia were the first to report a spike in domestic violence figures since the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent stay-at-home orders. In addition, the lockdown has also intensified alcoholism and mental health problems.
The UN also called for governments all over the world to especially focus on domestic cases emerging from the lockdown.
UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Dubravka Simonovic, said in warning: "It is very likely that rates of widespread domestic violence will increase, as already suggested by initial police and hotline reports. For too many women and children, home can be a place of fear and abuse. That situation worsens considerably in cases of isolation such as the lockdowns imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic."
"Governments must not allow the extraordinary circumstances and restrictive measures against COVID-19 to lead to the violation of women's right to a life free from violence", she added.