The Court of Appeal on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Orestas Jasaitis, a 24-year-old resident of the Rokiškis district, northeastern Lithuania, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for murdering a man during a livestream on the social media platform TikTok.
Paramedics and police officers were called to the town of Juodupė in October last year. A young woman had dialled the emergency services and reported that she had been watching a livestream by an acquaintance, during which he severely beat a man and then fled the scene, leaving him unconscious.
Around the same time, Jasaitis himself called emergency services, claiming he had found his friend beaten after visiting him. However, this account was contradicted by footage from his livestream. The violent assault was watched by approximately 140 people.
The injured middle-aged man was rushed to hospital but died a few days later. Experts later confirmed that he died from head trauma.
Jasaitis had a habit of livestreaming his violent outbursts, reportedly in an attempt to earn money from viewers, some of whom would send him payments. His neighbours would also watch the broadcasts to see what he was doing and to decide whether it was safe to return home.
Jasaitis also faced charges of property damage and public order offences, committed in August and September of last year.
In August 2023, he threw a wooden block at a VW Golf, kicked in and broke the door of a woman’s flat, smashed flower pots and furniture in a stairwell, hurled a brick fragment at the apartment’s door, and broke a side wing mirror of a VW Passat parked in the courtyard.
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