A 35-year old man who murdered and mutilated his friend in his north Belfast home has been jailed for a minimum of 18 years.
As he imposed the sentence on Sarunas Nauburaitis at Belfast Crown Court, Mr Justice O'Hara described the May 2020 murder and aftermath as "disgusting and grotesque."
Following a drinking session in his Oakley Street home, Lithuanian national Nauburaitis kicked Maris Ludborzs up to 30 times in the head, carved the word 'Pig' onto the dead man's chest and placed a toy rat in his underwear.
Nauburaitis then left the remains of the 44-year old Latvian man to decompose in his kitchen for over a week, during which he used his victim's bank card to buy alcohol and snacks.
When he walked into a police station on May 23 last year, the self-confessed Satanist told police he had killed a man in his house.
Officers attended the address and found the badly decomposed and disfigured remains of Mr Ludborzs in the blood-splattered kitchen.
The deceased father-of-one had no relatives living in Northern Ireland and had to be formally identified via fingerprints.
During yesterday's tariff hearing, Mr Justice O'Hara said he accepted the murder was not connected to Satanism.
He did, however, highlight the multiple injuries inflicted, and Nauburaitis's actions in the aftermath of the murder.
Mr Justice O'Hara said: "This death was caused by 20 to 30 kicks, with the deceased's head ricocheting off a radiator, with extensive blood splatter and with the use of a heel to finish him off.
"In case that wasn't enough, a plastic bag was tied over his head. In many cases that might be the end of the story, but not in this one.
"What followed was disgusting and grotesque. Carving the letters PIG, placing the toy rat and throwing bleach in the face almost defies description, and have caused entirely understandable distress to the victim's family."
Saying the only mitigating feature was Nauburaitis's guilty plea, Mr Justice O'Hara said this was "inevitable" given his confession to police.
Following his arrest, Nauburaitis told police he and Mr Ludborzs met through a community immigration centre and he invited his friend to stay with him occasionally as he was sleeping rough.
He said that on the day of the murder, Mr Ludborzs was drunk and urinated in his home several times.
Nauburaitis said he asked his friend for £10 that he owed, and as Mr Ludborzs was running to the back door, he pulled him back.
The killer claimed Mr Ludborzs began urinating again - telling police at that point "I kicked him from behind. There were many kicks, maybe 20 or 30."
Nauburaitis said during the attack, Mr Ludborzs's head hit against a radiator, and that he "finished him" with the heel of his shoe.
When asked about the plastic bag, Nauburaitis said he put it there after the assault to ensure if Mr Ludborzs was still breathing "he would stop breathing."
Nauburaitis said that after his friend died, he carved the word 'Pig' on his chest, and placed the toy rat on the deceased to symbolise theft.
Mr Justice O'Hara imposed a minimum sentence of 18 years which Nauburaitis will serve in prison before he is considered eligible for release by the Parole Commissioners.
The development was welcomed by the PSNI.
Detective Inspector Darren McCracken said: "Maris was subjected to a brutal and sustained attack by Sarunas in Sarunas’s home, resulting in his death.
“Whilst I know that nothing will ease the heartache that Maris’s family are feeling I hope this sentencing will bring some sort of closure to them, knowing that Nauburaitis is now serving 18 years in prison.”