A FARMER has been charged with murder after allegedly knocking a schoolgirl out cold and trying to feed her to pigs who mauled her to death.
Igor Zaika, 40, confessed to the savage beating on his boss’s daughter because he “harboured a grudge”, said the Russian Investigative Committee.
Milena Shevelyova, 17, was home alone in Krasnoyarsk region and was feeding the pigs when he attacked.
The man had reportedly fought with the girl’s father the same day and entered the pigpen in the evening with the aim of setting it on fire.
In a filmed interrogation, he told investigators: “I came in, and there’s his daughter, the manager’s daughter….we got into a fight.”
He told how he “went at her with a stick” and “threw a few punches to her head.”
After leaving the teen motionless on the ground, Zaika grabbed her phone and ran home.
The teen was then left to be mauled to death by the pigs.
“The man deliberately left the girl to be eaten by pigs, because he knew that the animals would attack the body,” said a report by news outlet Readovka.
The farmworker said he smashed her phone with an axe and burned it in his furnace along with the stick to cover-up the evidence.
Zaika had intended to kill livestock belonging to Milena’s father, he told officers, but was surprised to find her in the barn feeding the animals.
Her worried parents who had gone to sell meat in Krasnoyarsk city could not reach her by phone and asked a friend to check on her.
The teenage victim was found by a friend with extensive wounds on her body and face after the horror event.
Tributes have been paid to the schoolgirl following the tragedy.
The victim’s boyfriend Vladimir Bedny, 18, posted: “You will forever remain in my heart.
“Forgive me for everything, my most beloved girl.”
It was previously believed the schoolgirl had been killed by an aggressive sow as she fed the animals before Zaika’s involvement was suspected.
An initial report on the horror case said the pigs tore her femoral artery and bit her, with Milena dying from blood loss.
But new details later led to arrest and charging of Milena’s neighbour, after he confessed to assaulting her.
The Investigative Committee of Russia for Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia previously said: “During the investigation, investigators and forensic specialists, in cooperation with police officers, established that the girl’s death might be linked to a resident of the village of Ushkanka in the Uzhursky District, who lives nearby.
“He allegedly inflicted bodily injuries on the girl, causing her to lose consciousness.
“Currently, the suspect has been brought to the investigative department for further investigative actions.”
