A young man from the north of the country was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he crushed three fingers of a woman’s hand with an axe and then hit the woman at least four times with the edge of the axe to the head. The 56-year-old woman died, IPN reports.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the case happened at the end of January this year. The 33-year-old defendant was in the house of his former concubine’s sister, a 56-year-old woman from Edineț district. Acting with direct intent and with particular cruelty, the young man attacked her with an axe. Recently, the Edineț Court sentenced him to 18 years in prison. The man pleaded not guilty.

The man was held on remand until the conviction sentence entered into force. The sentence is not final and can be appealed to the Balti Court of Appeals.