Yanko and Troyanka Yordanov are married and have two young children with whom they live in Plovdiv. Over time, Yanko began to feel strong jealousy, suggesting to himself that his wife was having an extramarital affair. He often asked her why she was late after shopping, and in one case he even followed her to make sure that she was really going to the nearby grocery store. The man periodically used alcohol and marijuana, and after using them his unfounded jealousy intensified even more.
Over time, the beatings became a daily routine, and their goal was for the woman to “confess to the infidelity”. She denied it, but he did not believe her and continued to question her about it, systematically beating her, sometimes with an iron rod for the stove. Once, during a scandal and beating, the police went to check, but the woman, out of fear, sent them away with the explanation that everything was fine.
On the morning of the fatal day, Troyanka left home with the two children while Yanko was sleeping and went to the house of her relative who lived nearby. Shortly before noon, Yanko's mother woke him up and asked where his wife and children were. He angrily snatched the bag from her hands and threw it away, then ordered her to go buy him coffee. Then he went to his aunt's house, as he guessed that his wife had gone there, and ordered his wife to come home with him. On the way home, Yanko raised a scandal with his wife for allowing herself to go out with the children while he was sleeping without telling him where she was going. His mother was waiting for them in front of the house, who noticed both her son's anger and her daughter-in-law's visible horror. However, the man took the coffee he had ordered earlier from her hands and kicked her out of her house.
Yanko again began to insist that his wife admit which man she was having an extramarital affair with, and took an axe from the yard to intimidate her. Since the victim denied it, the husband began to pull her hair and hit her hard in the face with his fist.
Troyanka began to scream in pain and the mother, who was in front of the locked door, became even more worried about what was happening inside. Through the window, she saw that the axe used to chop wood was left in the room, and she was scared that her son might really kill her wife. The elderly woman went to the nearby district police station to report the incident. However, from there she was sent away with instructions to call 112 and she returned to her son's house. On the way, she called the emergency number and reported what was happening.
At the same time, the scandal in the locked room escalated. Yanko struck Troyanka three times with the axe blade in the chest and one of the ribs. Then, angry that she did not admit to cheating on him, he decided to kill her and struck her several times in the head. Hearing the young woman’s cries for help, Yanko’s mother tried unsuccessfully to break the glass of the locked front door of the house with a chair and enter.
Following her report, the police arrived a little later. Seeing them through the window, the man put down the axe, unlocked the front door, reached out to the two Ministry of Interior officers and told them to arrest him. The victim was found inside with multiple wounds, in a helpless state. Troyanka was taken by an emergency team, but despite resuscitation, she died in the hospital after about an hour.
More information about the verdict, as well as the full reasons for the court’s decision, can be found here.