UpToMails published February 20, 2025: British man Garo Jlitakryan danced on Insta days after allegedly killing 75-year-old Markku Holma.
LBC News, UK local
written by Jacob Paul
Wednesday February 5, 2025
The Brit, 32, admitted to attacking the pensioner inside his home in Finland, a court heard.
He reportedly arrived in the country on a cycling tour and met the older man at a spa in Seinajoki, western Finland.
CCTV footage from July 28 showed the pair buying a mobile phone and arriving at the pensioner’s home, where the Brit reportedly completed some gardening work on the flat.
The Brit later told investigators the 75-year-old had tied him up and raped him in a “horrible ordeal”.
“When it was over, he rolled over next to me,” he told the court.
The Brit added: “Then he started snoring, and I decided to escape. I went to the kitchen and cut my ties there.”
He claimed his only option was to carry out the savage axe attack on the older victim in an act of self-defence.
The man had allegedly come to the kitchen door with an axe and told him that no one would believe him if he tried to call the police.
“The man had an axe in his hand, and I had no choice but to defend myself,” he told the court.
“The first blow was when I intended to hit him but not to kill him,” he added.
Police say the pensioner died between midnight and 2:14am on July 29.
The 32-year-old struck his victim with an axe six times while he lay in bed, according to prosecutors.The killer then reportedly drove off in the victim’s car which he ditched around a 90-minute away from the flat after colliding with a deer “that a deer out of nowhere”, according to WhatsApp messages sent to a friend before 6am on July 29.
Another message, heard in court, read: “If the cops had come, I would have been screwed.”
The pensioner’s body was found two weeks later on August 14, after his relatives requested a wellness check from police.
Police identified the 32-year-old as the prime suspect and traced his location to a flat in eastern Finland days later on August 17 following concerns he had already left the country.
An axe was found in the Seinajoki flat, with just the pensioner’s DNA found on it, according to local media.
Another axe, pictured attached to the tourist’s bike in photos taken by a local on July 27, was not immediately recovered.
The suspect denied taking the axe on his cycling trip and allegedly provided conflicting accounts of where he left it. He claimed he was travelling around Europe to raise funds for British charities and planned the stopover in Finland to work at a friend’s husky farm.
The Brit’s internet history showed he had searched for online reports of the crime weeks before the dead pensioner’s body was discovered.
The pensioner’s daughter told the court that there was no way she could imagine her father being capable of the allegations against him due to his deteriorating health.
The Brit was offered mental health examinations by law officials. The trial will resume following the results. Prosecutors have called for the killer to be slapped with a 10-year sentence if found guilty of murder.
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Daily Mail, UK
written by Miriam Kuepper and Nick Pisa
Thursday February 20, 2025
A British man accused of axing a 75-year-old man to death in Finland after he was allegedly tied up and raped posted a video of himself dancing and loving life just days after the killing.
Garo Jlitakryan, 32, admitted to lashing out at the pensioner, named in court documents as Markku Antero Holma, with an axe at least six times, his trial has heard.
Jlitakryan faces at least 10 years in jail, if found guilty, following the attack which happened last July while he was in the Nordic country on a charity bike ride for Help for Heroes.
The Londoner told the court in South Ostrobothnia, north west Finland, he had attacked Holma at the end of July at his flat in Seinajoki after he was raped.
Jlitakryan, who works as a valet, said he had been on a charity ride across Europe and ended up in Finland last July.
He documented his cycling journey on Instagram, even posting a video update on July 31 - just two days after Holma was axed to death.
In the footage, Jlitakryan films his dancing shadow as he is moving his hips along to song 'Someday', with the lyrics 'don't give up, keep on moving on, it's going to be alright' ringing out in the background.
In another video, Jlitakryan filmed himself kayaking at sundown, less than two weeks before he was arrested on August 17 for killing Holma, whose body wasn't found until days prior.
The two men had met at a spa in Kauhava on July 27, a day after Jlitakryan arrived in Finland via a ferry. They then spent the night in a hotel room paid for by Holma.
On July 28, the 75-year-old was captured on CCTV with Holma as he bought him a new phone before taking him to his home in Seinajoki, where Jlitakryan did some gardening work for Holma.
Jlitakryan said: 'He told me that if I helped him, he could give me sexual favours, but I didn't want sexual favours I just wanted to rest and charge my phone.
'We ate lunch together, which tasted terrible, then I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was tied up with bandages. I couldn't move properly,' he told South Ostrobothnia District Court, where his trial is being held.
He claims that the pensioner raped him. 'The ordeal was horrible. When it was over, he rolled over next to me. Then he started snoring and I decided to escape. I went to the kitchen and cut my ties there,' he said.
Jlitakryan told the court Holma then prevented him from leaving and threatened him with an axe saying 'no one would believe' him.
He added: 'The man had an axe in his hand, I had no choice but to defend myself. It was either him or me. He slipped and fell and I went to hit him with the wooden handle of the axe but I also slipped and the axe hit the man.
'I remember hitting him twice, maybe three times. The man didn't move and so my idea was to leave.'
Investigators believe the pensioner was killed between midnight and 2.14am on July 29.
Jlitakryan said: 'My bike was in the man's car. I packed my things, took the axe and my devices that were charging, panicked and then fled in the car, driving east.'
Holma's car was found in a ditch outside Kyyjarvi - about a 90-minute drive from the victim's home - just hours later.
Jlitakryan blamed the accident on a deer that 'appeared out of nowhere', according to a Whatsapp message sent to his friend just before 6am on July 29. 'If the cops had come, I would have been screwed,' he added about leaving the car behind.
The axe used in the killing has not been found. While one axe was discovered in Holma's apartment, only his DNA was found on it.
A second axe could be seen attached to the frame of Jlitakryan's bike in photos taken by a local on July 27. The second axe has not been found.
The Briton said he used the victim's axe to kill him, although he gave different versions of where he disposed of it and police have been unable to locate the weapon. He denied bringing an axe on his cycling trip.
In the weeks following the killing, the 32-year-old is said to have searched online for information about the crime - before the pensioner's body had even been found.
The killed man's daughter told the court she raised the alarm after failing to hear from him and police eventually found her father on August 14, more than two weeks after he died.
She told the court she didn't believe her father was 'capable of attacking anyone because of his ill health'.
Jlitakryan was eventually arrested by police on August 17 working at a husky farm almost 300 miles away after the car was found abandoned in a ditch.
In his last Instagram before he was arrested, Jlitakryan posted a drunken monologue about 'the language barrier is a piss take' and that if you 'don't learn a language you are going to feel an outsider'.
Swigging from a glass he added: 'I dunno I may just leave this place, it's a f***ing stressful thing. You can't even get a relationship because you can't speak the language.'
Other images show him working at the husky farm and there is also a picture of his black bike that he was cycling with.
Prosecutors have demanded a ten-year prison sentence for Jlitakryan.
The court has ordered a mental health examination for the accused, after which the trial is set to resume.
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