Man sentenced to life for wife’s murder appeals ruling

A man from Kotka sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife has appealed the Kymenlaakso District Court’s ruling to the Court of Appeal, Yle reports.

The man, born in 1974, killed his wife with a kitchen knife and an axe on 10 May 2026 in Karhuvuori, Kotka. She was asleep in the bedroom, while the couple’s teenage child was sleeping in a neighbouring room.

He called emergency services immediately after the killing and confessed. When police arrived, he was waiting outside the stairwell. Yle is not publishing his name to protect the privacy of his relatives.

At trial, the man admitted killing his wife but denied murder. He said he had considered killing her for a long time. His defence said he had also thought about suicide and argued that the killing was not especially brutal or cruel because it was brief and the victim would not have suffered for long. The man had searched online for information about killing a person as early as February.

The district court ruled that the killing was murder because it had been firmly considered and planned. It said the injuries required very forceful violence and that the victim was asleep and defenceless in her own home. The court also cited violence against a close relative in the home and the child’s presence. In addition to the life sentence, the man was ordered to pay the child 35,000 euros in compensation for suffering.