Ending a brief and unsuccessful stint at adult life, a court in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk handed a life sentence to a 24-year-old man who committed his first murder at age 12.
Ivan Tikhanov was found guilty of killing his drinking buddy last year over a minor dispute, beating him to death with the blunt edge of an ax, Prokrf.ru judicial news website said on Wednesday.
Tikhanov also murdered a man and a woman he was drinking with who were witnesses to the killing, the report said. He tried to flee the scene, but a fire started by a dropped cigarette alerted firefighters and police, who promptly detained him.
Tikhanov, who grew up in a dysfunctional family, committed his first murder at 12, also killing a drinking buddy, Prokrf.ru said. He was let off the hook at the time because the age limit for criminal persecution in Russia is 14.
The clause failed to save him the next time: Tikhanov committed his next murder at 14, killing an elderly woman in order to rob her. He served a 7 1/2-year sentence over the case.
Tikhanov pleaded not guilty to the triple murder in court, but was convicted by a jury. It remained unclear whether he planned to appeal.