Swimsuit model Mária Kukučová, prime suspect in the murder of British businessman and ex-boyfriend Andrew Bush, has given consent for her extradition to Spain.
Kukučová claims that she fled from Spain because she witnessed men in uniform visiting her ex-boyfriend’s villa. On May 13, Kukučová was interrogated at the Prosecutor’s Office and consented to her extradition to Spain.
“The prosecutor now has ten days to make a decision on carrying out the European arrest warrant and no appeal is possible against that decision,” her lawyer Matúš Gemeš told the TASR newswire on May 14, adding that his client could be prosecuted in Spain for no other crime but the murder of Bush. If convicted she faces some 20 years in jail.
Kukučová, aged 24, is charged with murdering Bush, 48, and she claimed that she killed Bush in self-defence. The young model allegedly entered into a heated argument with Bush who supposedly physically assaulted her before she shot him dead. She is pregnant with his child. Kukučová voluntarily surrendered herself to police April 8, accompanied by her new boyfriend. After interrogation, she was escorted to Faculty Hospital in Trenčín for a medical examination of bruises supposed to corroborate her version of being physically attacked by Bush.
Gemeš stressed that Kukučová surrendered herself to Slovak authorities on April 8 in the afternoon, whereas the European arrest warrant was delivered to Slovak police and Prosecutor’s Office only in late evening - by the time she was already under arrest in Slovakia.
“Mária Kukučová left Spain because she saw uniformed men at the villa of her ex-boyfriend receiving money from him, and she was afraid that such relations could have an influence on her potential prosecution,” Gemeš explained. “Therefore, we asked the prosecutor to include a request into her decision that Mária is in contact with only those members of Spanish police who have not been in contact with her former boyfriend.”
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
