Hriňová
Fatal nightcap
A 21 YEAR-old involved in the bloody murder of his own father because he did not want him to sleep has been thrown
in jail.
Radovan B. from the town of Hriňová and his 53 year-old father were returning home from a pub when the older man, tired and drunk, said he wanted to lay down.
His son told him to get up, but after having his demands ignored, violently beat his dad. The father later died of his injuries.
Radovan was taken into pre-trial custody on February 18 and has been charged with bodily harm resulting in death.
Vranov nad Topľou
Self-mutilation
A SICK 27 year-old man shocked an ambulance team answering his emergency call when they found he had cut off one of his own testicles and then eaten it.
The man, whom police have not named, called the ambulance after he realised he was bleeding heavily. He was rushed to hospital in the town where surgeons operated on him.
The man was apparently suffering from what doctors described as "auto-mutilation" - a condition usually affecting people without partners who compensate for their lack of sexual activity with heavy masturbation. They later feel enormously guilty and inflict physical damage on themselves.
The 27-year-old university graduate is now in a psychiatric ward at a hospital in Michalovce.
Nitra
Just checking
JURAJ, a 52-year-old teacher, was hospitalised after a bus stop collapsed on his head as he was waiting for his ride.
Plexiglass plates and iron tubes disintegrated over Juraj's head after a bus which was passing by struck a corner of the bus stop.
Juraj suffered only minor injuries, but on being taken to hospital he was visited by a local policeman who came to measure Juraj's blood alcohol level.
"The Nitra bus company has not shown the same concern with my health condition as the police," Juraj said, adding he had not been told why police felt his blood alcohol could have played a role in the accident.
Juraj said that he was considering walking instead of using local buses from now on.
Brezno
Pre-teens in crime drama
TWO YOUNG runaways stole a car, and when chased by the owner fired several shots at him from an illegally owned gun.
Nobody was wounded, and the two adventurous friends - Peter, aged 12 and Zdenko, aged 11 - ended up in police custody.
They said they had run away from their homes a week before, and until February 19 when their joyride ended in a police station, had slept in derelict buildings and barns near Brezno.
Police said that because of the age of the culprits they cannot be charged with auto theft and illegal possession of arms, which in adult court could have landed them in jail for up to five years.
Košice
Belgian money to build pub
MONEY awarded as compensation from the Belgian government to the Slovak Roma family of Ján Čonka will allegedly be used to build a pub in the city's Roma ghetto Lúnik IX, the daily Pravda reported.
The Strasbourg Court for Human Rights decided in early February that Belgium had violated the Čonka family's human rights in kicking them out before an asylum request had been heard, and ordered the country to pay the Čonkas 10,000 euros in compensation.
The Čonka's deny that their pub, construction on which started two months ago, is fed by the Belgian money.
"It's not true that he is building the pub with Belgian money. That money hasn't arrived yet," said the wife of Čonka's oldest son.
"We're not poor. We always had money. We do business," she added.
Alexander Šana, the former Lúnik IX mayor who was booted out of office due to his drinking excesses, said: "I personally will be the first to have a beer there."
Letanovce
No fixed address
NINE HUNDRED Roma who live in a settlement near the eastern Slovak village of Letanovce have been stripped of a permanent address.
Their nomadic situation was caused by a decision from the Letanovce mayor's office to cancel their permanent address in the Letanovský mlyn settlement. The office argued that the settlement was outside municipal borders.
They said the Letanovský mlyn Roma fell under the administration of the neighbouring Spišské Tomášovce village.
The situation caused a meeting of mayors of the two villages, state representatives and cabinet plenipotentiary for Roma affairs Klára Orgovánová to resolve the dispute.
Miroslav Pecha, representing the Letanovce Roma said: "I can't imagine belonging to Spišské Tomášovce. Just getting new identification papers organised will be a massive problem for some of our inhabitants."
Pecha has lived in Letanovský mlyn, one of Slovakia's most notorious Roma shantytowns, all his life. Although 100 per cent unemployment afflicts the Roma in the settlement, Pecha said that stereotypes of Roma as lazy or criminal were unacceptable.
"It's not true that all Roma are unable to adapt. Sure, some people like that exist, but the majority wants to live a dignified life," he said.
Slovakia
Now that's late!
SLOVAK trains were almost five months late last year when all train delays are put together, railways statistics showed.
The delays amounted to 3,513 hours, or over 146 days. Trains collectively travelled over 35 million kilometres, almost five return journeys to the moon.
Compared to 2000 train discipline improved by 10 per cent.
Compiled by Spectator staff
from press reports
