Czech man accused of killing employment-office clerk remanded in custody

Prague, July 2 (CTK) - A court today remanded into custody a 66-year-old man who shot and fatally wounded a woman in a labor office in Prague on Tuesday, out of fear that he might continue his crime spree or escape prosecution, judge Jiří Horký has told reporters.

The decision on custody has taken effect as the accused did not use his right to file a complaint against it.

During the ruling, the accused behaved rudely and arrogantly and had to be expelled from the courtroom. He said he did not regret his acts and called the female state attorney "a toad," Horký added.

The man is also accused of committing severe bodily harm and placement of an improvised explosive device, Horký added.

The judge confirmed that the man was also suspected of the Friday acid attack on a woman outside the Aero Vodochody aircraft producer and the Saturday explosion causing an injury to a police officer in a flat in Prague-Libeň.

The man faces an exceptional sentence, which ranges from 20 to 30 years or even to life imprisonment in the Czech Republic if convicted.

"He does not regret any murders, any explosive devices. He only feels sorry for the police officer. The others deserved this and should have been punished," Horký said, citing the suspected shooter's opinions.

The man was escorted to the Prague-Pankrác custody prison. The judge asked for stricter supervision of the suspect.

The police detained the shooter, who managed to escape from the scene of the crime, on Tuesday afternoon, a few hours after the attack in a labor office in Bělehradská street in Prague's wider center. Hundreds of police officers were searching for him and a helicopter was also deployed.

The suspected murderer held an illegally possessed firearm when he was detained. The police found another weapon, a homemade shotgun in his car.

Questioning revealed that he planned to commit further serious crimes. The motive was revenge for alleged wrongs, the police said.

The man sent threatening letters to the female clerk, whom he would later shoot dead, as early as 2016. In the past, he had unsuccessfully applied for unemployment benefits at the labor office.

On Monday, a court decided that the man should go to prison for ten months, changing the original suspended sentence to a prison one for having violated the ordered restrictions as the sentence conditions, daily Pravo reports today.