Trnava
Husband hired hit man to murder wife
POLICE in Trnava have solved the murder of Jarmila H, who was found dead last November in a cupboard in the flat she shared with her husband, the daily SME reported.
Jarmila H's remains were discovered in a cupboard for storing duvets. Police believe her husband, Erik H, hired a hit man to murder his wife. The alleged assassin was arrested following a bank raid in Hlohovec in February this year.
The hit man was paid Sk0.5 million (€13,260) for the job. Two days before the planned murder, Erik H showed the hit man the flat and told him about his wife's daily routines and habits.
According to SME, the Trnava businessman had his wife murdered because she was "getting on his nerves". SME reported that Jarmila H had previously worked in an erotic salon, where she met her husband-to-be.
After killing the ex-dancer, the hit man took his victim's mobile phone and credit cards, which she had in her purse, together with all the pin codes. He cleared the money out of the accounts and sent a text message to the husband faking a kidnapping and demanding a ransom.
Police identified him as the murderer shortly afterwards but did not arrest him straightaway. Officers were waiting to see if he would contact Erik H. The police suspected the woman's husband because his testimony had several discrepancies.
The hit man was arrested after he robbed a branch of Tatra banka. During interrogation by police he admitted to the murder and revealed that Erik H had hired him to do it.
Both men are facing life in prison.
Kamienka
Youths forged Sk1,000 notes
TWO YOUTHS from the village of Kamienka in the Prešov region were apprehended trying to spend fake Sk1,000 notes they manufactured.
The Pravda daily wrote that a 14-year-old asked his 15-year-old friend to make the forgeries. After making three the boys tried to use them in several shops and bars in Stará Ľubovňa.
The 14-year-old boy was apprehended in a bar trying to change one note. He cannot be prosecuted due to his age. His older accomplice, however, has already been charged.
Michalovce
Boy pulls dad from well
EIGHT-year-old schoolboy Richard rescued his dad who fell into a well.
According to the Nový Čas daily, the father and son were out sledging when they spotted a suspicious hole in the snow. The father went to investigate and fell into what turned out to be a two-metre-deep well.
But 37-year-old Ivan Moško's son did not hesitate. He reached down into the well, clutched hold of his father's hands and slowly pulled his grateful dad out of the hole.
"I will remember this for the rest of my life," said Moško. "I got stuck in the well and my foot was injured. There was nothing I could grab on to so I couldn't climb up," he said.
The happy dad took the strong lad to a restaurant to thank him for his heroic deed.
"He ordered a table full of deserts and ate as much as he could," Moško said.
Ivanka pri Nitre
Film star had Slovak heritage
AUDREY Hepburn's family tree can be traced back to a small village near Bratislava. The state archive in Invanka pri Nitre has discovered that the Hollywood legend's grandparents were sugar makers from the village of Kovarce, according to the daily Nový Čas.
"Audrey Hepburn's relative in Holland asked us to look into her family tree. In the end we found out that her grandparents, the Wels', for years produced sugar in the village between the city of Nitra and Topolčany.
"Later they left for Vienna. It's a shame that she has no relatives here anymore," said the archive's director Šarlota Drahošová.
According to the daily, the ancestors of Slovaks who now live in the US, Canada, and Israel often ask the archive to trace their roots.
The service costs between Sk3,000 and Sk8,000 (€80 and €210).
"Many people also want to find out whether they have aristocratic roots," Drahošová told the daily.
Researchers usually delve up to six generations back when searching for people's ancestors. Inaccurate records and the prevalence of individual villages and towns to have many people with the same surname complicate their work.
The records also reveal other interesting facts. For example, a great number of recorded deaths at the same time reveal that there was once an earthquake near Komárno.
A surge in the number of newborns in a town usually indicates that soldiers were stationed nearby.
Vysoké Tatry
Six-metre Easter egg
COTTAGE keeper Peter Petras, 59, has decided to make a six-metre tall Easter egg and a large scale Bethlehem (a detailed nativity scene) out of snow.
"I built an Easter egg last year and so now ahead of Easter people are already asking me where this year's egg is," Petras who keeps the Reinerova cottage, told Nový Čas daily.
The Bethlehem is already finished. It is big enough for people to walk inside.
Last year's egg stood at 5.2 metres high. Petras built it with a spade and a machete.
Donovaly
Statues in snow
THIS giant polar bear guards an igloo at the Donovaly Snow Kingdom event.
photo: TASR
THE FIRST annual Snow Kingdom event in Slovakia was launched at Donovaly near Banská Bystrica in late February.
Within three days many beautiful snow statues had been built, the Nový Čas daily wrote.
With tools such as machetes, spades, electric saws and knives, enthusiastic snow sculptors created various statues out of three-metre-high piles of snow, each weighing about 10 tonnes.
A statue of a girl with beautiful curly locks sitting down was the most admired. Czech restoration artist Radomír Surma, from
THE TWELVE finalists of Miss Universe Slovakia 2005 are hard at work preparing for the April 22 contest, which will be broadcast by the JOJ TV station. In recent days the girls have been rehearsing their choreographies and competition disciplines at the Donovaly ski centre. Outside working hours the young women have found time to ride dog sleds and snow scooters, as well as relax in the outdoor whirlpool.
photo: TASR
Olomouc, created the larger than life statue.
Children were especially happy with the statue of a big polar bear and a real igloo.
Bratislava
Diamonds snatched on street
THIEVES in Bratislava stole Sk2.3 million (€61,000) worth of diamonds from an Israeli merchant in broad daylight.
According to the Pravda daily, the incident took place in Vysoká street, central Bratislava, after the 55-year-old merchant had offered the diamonds for sale without success in other jewellery shops in the area.
As he walked down Vysoká street on March 8, two men approached him and tore the bag of diamonds from his hands.
Nitra
Ancient church found in Nitra
A GREATER Moravian church discovered on army land in Nitra should be excavated in late June or early July this year.
According to the SITA news agency, the church is one of the most valuable historical finds in the Nitra area. Archaeologists, with the help of the municipal authorities, hope to unearth the building in time for the Nitra Days festival this summer.
Matej Ruttkay, head of the archaeological team said, "The mayor has agreed to support our efforts. The agreement will be signed after the culture commission approves the whole project. Nevertheless, we do still need the approval of the plot's administrator, the army."
