In Odessa, the killer of a 7-year-old girl was sentenced to life in prison

In Odesa, a 31-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison for the high-profile murder and rape of 7-year-old Solomiya Tarasyuk. The perpetrator had planned the crime in advance, systematically gaining the trust of local children.

This was reported bythe press service of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

The prosecutor’s office handled the prosecution in this high-profile case involving a brutal crime that occurred in Odesa in June 2025. 

The perpetrator did not act spontaneously but rather purposefully and deliberately built a trusting relationship with the child in advance, which proves his premeditated intent. His guilt was confirmed by witness testimony, examination reports, expert findings, and other evidence that fully reconstructed the sequence of events. Prosecutors emphasized that this was the only possible punishment to protect society and other children.

The trial lasted a full year. During the hearings, the defendant admitted only partial guilt, claiming that he did not remember the rape itself. However, prosecutors fully proved that he had planned everything, manipulated the girl’s fear, and exploited her childlike naivety.

On that day in June 2025, the man smoked cannabis and saw a neighbor’s daughter riding a scooter on the street. All the children in the neighborhood knew him because he was friendly, talked to them about cats, and showed them videos of his pet that he had filmed for TikTok. At the same time, a psychiatric evaluation confirmed that he was fully aware of his actions and is mentally sound.

For the month leading up to the incident, the man had been constantly trying to win over the girl and her brother: he took them on bike rides and bought them candy. That evening, he lured the child into his apartment under the pretext of showing her his cat. Once inside, he took advantage of her helplessness, covered her head with a blanket, raped her, and strangled her.

The next day, the killer wrapped the body in plastic wrap, placed it in a travel bag, and hid the bag inside a large cardboard box. He covered everything with empty glass bottles so they would rattle during transport and conceal the contents. He then called a taxi, asking for one with an empty trunk to accommodate the large boxes, and transported the body to another house, where he hid it in a small basement.

Also in May, a court in the Odesa region found a man guilty ofsystematically raping children and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

Анна Бальчінос