The first-instance verdict against the defendants for the murder of Canadian citizen Ljiljana Simić will be announced today in the High Court in Podgorica, before the criminal panel chaired by judge Veljko Radovanović.
According to the indictment, Zoran Marić and Radomir Delić are accused of murdering a Canadian citizen in an insidious manner and out of self-interest.
The court has to decide whether to believe the defense of the defendant Delic, who said that the defendant Marić killed Simić.
The indictment stated that on September 3, 2020, after 14:46 p.m. in the village of Mokrine near Herceg Novi, they killed Ljiljana Simić in an insidious manner and out of self-interest.
Together they reached the residential building in the Dobrota neighborhood in Kotor where the injured party lived.
Under the pretext that he was going to take her to Herceg Novi and show her the nature and the sunset, the defendant Marić lured the injured party to get in with him and the defendant Delić and sit in the passenger seat of the mentioned vehicle.
After that, both defendants and the victim in the same vehicle driven by the defendant Marić drove from Kotor in the direction of Herceg Novi, where the defendant Marić joined the main road and then the macadam forest road to the village of Mokrine. After that, he stopped the vehicle on the dirt road, so that both defendants and the victim Simić went along the footpath across the nearby meadow, on which part of the defendant Marić gave instructions to the defendant Delic to stay in that place and look towards the dirt road and watch out for someone did not come across, which the defendant Delić accepted.
As stated in the indictment, the defendant Marić started an argument with the victim Simić, then knocked her down on the ground, pressed her on the chest with his feet, and then clamped her neck with both hands and struck her several times with his fists or a mechanical tool in the face area, inflicting severe and life-threatening bodily injuries, from which the injured party died.
After that, he promised the defendant Delić a monetary reward in the amount of between four and five thousand euros, which he would pay him upon the sale of the apartment of the injured party, Ljiljana Simić, and that the defendant Delić, in return, would remain silent about the committed criminal act and not report it to the competent authorities. the defendant Delić accepted.
State Prosecutor Danka Ivanović Đerić stuck to the allegations in the indictment and in her closing argument proposed to the court to declare them guilty and punish them according to the law.
Lawyer Lazar Aković, the defense attorney for the defendant Marić, said that he sincerely regrets as a human being the tragic event in which Simić lost her life. Due to the lack of evidence, he proposed to the court to acquit him of the charge.
"During the entire procedure, my client consistently, objectively and convincingly defended himself that he did not perform the actions he was charged with, as factually described in the disposition of the indictment. It is an indisputable fact that the accused was previously convicted, which fact makes his position in this criminal proceeding difficult, because a priori there is a suspicion that he also committed this criminal offense. Following his defense, I appreciate that it has not been proven that Marić committed the criminal offense charged against him in the indictment. The prosecution predominantly bases its thesis on the defense of the accused Delić Radomir. In the opinion of the accused Marić, the defense of the accused Delic was falsely constructed, with the sole aim of the accused Marić being accused and convicted. That the defendant Delić's defense is false is best confirmed by the fact that there is no biological material from Marić on the wardrobe of the late Ljiljana Simić, and there would have to be if the event really took place as the defendant Delić describes and claims. The fact is that the biological trace of the accused Marić was found on the surgical mask in the victim's car, but this fact cannot be linked to the tragic event. It is not in dispute that the accused used her vehicle together with the injured party, which is why the mask he used is found in the car. Bearing in mind the above, due to the lack of evidence, I suggest that you acquit my client of the charges", said Aković.
Lawyer Dina Šabotić, the defense attorney of the defendant Delić, believes that all the evidence obtained during the entire procedure clearly and unequivocally confirms the defense's thesis that Delić definitely did not commit a criminal offense as a co-perpetrator - aggravated murder.
"Between the defendant Zoran Marić and my client Radomir Delic, there was no previous agreement - a joint decision to commit the murder, which is the key objective element for the existence of co-perpetration. The fact that there is no co-perpetration is also shown by the undeniable fact that the defendant Delic had no awareness of joint cooperation as an element of a subjective nature, given that he could not assume or guess what the defendant Marić's intentions were towards the victim Ljiljana, with whom Marić, according to his knowledge, was in an emotional relationship, and what he had in mind when he took her to Mokrine near Herceg Novi, where the defendant Marić deliberately took her life in a cruel and treacherous way. In the testimony of the defendant Delic, who explained in a clear, complete and truthful manner the entire course of events, especially on that critical day when, following the instructions of Marić, who was driving Ljiljana's car, they reached place Mokrina, where we especially emphasize the normal atmosphere and good mood between Ljiljana and Marić, when Marić told her, among other things, that he was going to show her nature and the sunset. At one point, they started to argue and argue, when Marić raised his voice and said some derogatory words. At one point in the discussion, my client noticed that Ljiljana moved away from Marić, about a meter - a meter and a half, where at one point he noticed that Marić took something from the ground with which he first hit Ljiljana once, as far as he could see, in the back of the head head, which made her howl and fall to the ground. At that moment Delić was shocked and surprised by what Marić had done, so he asked him in surprise and fear: 'What did he do?' to which Marić replied: 'Shut up until I have killed you as well as her,' because of which my client, as he himself stated, was extremely shaken," Šabotić said, among other things, in her closing statement.
Bonus video:
