A THRILL-SEEKING mum who arranged for her lover and ex-husband to battle to the death in a twisted "medieval duel" has been jailed for life.
Asta Juskauskiene, 35, left her husband Giedruis Juskauskas, 42, for Mantas Kvedaras, after meeting the 25-year-old online following his release from a Lithuanian prison for rape.
Both men claimed Juskauskiene as their own and so she decided to settle the argument with a fight to the death in an alleyway in Stratford, East London.
Kvedaras stabbed his love rival 35 times to the body and neck on June 17 last year and then bought Juskauskiene pizza to celebrate.
The mum-of-three had been warned Kvedaras was dangerous, but she said: "I think I will play until I get into trouble.
"I probably like the risks, dangers."
Kingston Crown Court heard Kvedaras fell "madly in love with Juskauskiene and considered [her] a "goddess".
Prosecutor Hugh Davies said: "Kvedaras had a reputation for violence in prison.
"He threatened to shoot a man in the leg for 'slandering' Juskauskiene by saying she posted erotic selfies.
"Kvedaras also told her he 'assaulted a lot of people, also stabbed a few, and shot at someone too'."
But Juskauskiene's ex-husband was still on the scene as he had not wanted the divorce.
I think I will play until I get into trouble.
I probably like the risks, dangers.
On June 16, the trio all met in a graveyard in Crawford, and later Kvedaras promised to fight for his lover.
"She suggested meeting in a tunnel where drugs are being sold, and said were anything to happen everybody would think it was due to drugs," the prosecutor said.
"Kvedaras leaves Crayford on a bus at 23.09. He had a knife. She must have known this.
"What happened in Whalebone Lane, Stratford, was brutal as it was immediate."
Juskauskas was found bleeding to death at 12.30am on June 17.
The prosecutor told the court Juskauskas had suffered 35 penetrating wounds, some with sufficient force to cut through bone.
COUPLE CELEBRATE MURDER WITH PIZZA
He added: "In this latter day medieval duel, the participants were playing by different rules and with markedly different capacities for violence.
"Juskauskas was heavily intoxicated. Unlike Kvedaras he had no history of using serious violence.
"He was wholly unarmed."
The day after the murder the couple celebrated by ordering pizza.
A friend of Juskauskiene's said in a statement that the mum-of-three had indicated she wanted her ex-husband to win rather than Mantas.
Mr Davies described Juskauskiene as a "manipulative and controlling figure central to the orchestration of these events".
She harboured Mantas at her house after the murder, deleted text messages from her mobile phones before they were seized by police and lied repeatedly in interview.
Juskauskiene, a home-visiting care worker of Iron Mill Lane, Dartford, Kent was convicted of conspiracy to murder and perverting the course of justice.
She stood expressionless in the dock as Judge Peter Lodder jailed her for life with a minimum term of 24 years.
Kvederas of no fixed address admitted murder and was jailed for 22 years.
Source: Read Full Article