In the time it took to say half an "our father"

Abstract

The author describes - and investigates - the murder of fourteen-year-old Boštjan Svetek, who was stabbed to death for 6 Goldinars by his former schoolmate Blaž Sorčan. The crime occurred on the 19th of February, 1834 in the Savinja Valley in the vicinity of Podvin - the victim's home town. It did not take long for the investigators to find the murderer, who was well known as a wild and wicked troublemaker in the area where he lived and several people had also testified to having seen him together with Boštjan Svetek on the day in question. Already at an early age, young Sorčan had proved to be too much of a handful for his ageing parents, becoming a vagrant, gambling, and also upon occasion, stealing. Blaž Sorčan had intended to use his victim's money to purchase a rifle. Following the inquest, the young criminal was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour, which, in the unlikely chance that he survived his term, had undoubtedly left him a broken man and for the rest of his days branded him an outcast, who had got on the wrong side of the law.