Exactly one year ago, Serbia was shaken by a double murder in Arilje. On New Year’s Eve, Branko Pušica brutally murdered spouses Predrag and Ivana Novaković, leaving two children without parents.
Branko Pušica has been sentenced to a unified prison term of 18 years—17 years for the double murder and one year for the illegal production, possession, carrying, and trafficking of weapons and explosives. This is the first-instance verdict of the High Court in Užice, which has been appealed.
For the families of Predrag and Ivana, and especially for their children, there is no comfort.
The Events of the Night
To recap, Branko Pušica killed Predrag and Ivana in a crowded establishment in Arilje during New Year’s Eve. According to witnesses, Pušica behaved strangely the entire time after arriving at the café. He approached Predrag Novaković, who was at another table, several times before returning to his own. This was noticed by a woman in the café who immediately alerted an acquaintance.
“Predrag fell; Pušica fired three more shots into him”
“He immediately spoke with the late Predrag and Branko Pušica regarding his behavior. The late Ivana Novaković also pointed this out to another witness. All of this eventually reached the owner of the establishment, whom a woman asked to calm Pušica down because he was causing a problem by approaching Predrag. Following this, the owner went to the table where an acquaintance of Pušica was sitting and asked about him, even asking if he should kick him out. The man told the owner that Pušica was sitting with his own wife and that it would be rude to throw him out for that,” the indictment stated, among other details.
“A few minutes later, Pušica took a pistol, approached Predrag, and shot him from a close distance. The victim fell to the floor, and the killer stood over him and fired three more shots. He then turned toward Ivana and fired shots into her as well,” the indictment notes.
Witness testimonies included a statement from a man the killer addressed just before the double murder. As he recounted, Pušica told him: “He poisoned my family; I will poison his!” The investigation determined that Branko Pušica was aware of what he was doing—that he had intent and killed the Novaković couple out of ruthless revenge and animosity.
During one of the hearings, experts stated that Pušica had 2.7 per mille of alcohol in his blood, but that this was not decisive in determining his mental state at the time.
Ivana’s Mother: “A Shameful Verdict”
Ivana’s mother, Gorica Blagojević, called the verdict shameful, humiliating, and sad. “That man lived in my son-in-law’s house for 15 years. Maybe there was jealousy; maybe he imagined he belonged in that house, and the hatred dates back to when Predrag brought my daughter there to live. We are left with sorrow and wondering what was in his head when he walked past his own three children in the apartment with a gun to go kill Predrag, and then walked five meters through the café to kill my daughter. He killed them in the most brutal way,” says Gorica. She cannot accept that the judge took into account that Pušica was allegedly diminished in capacity due to alcohol.
“The moment I came home to tell the children their parents were killed…”
Gorica recounts the horror of finding out: “When I heard the ambulance, I called my older daughter… she eventually told me that Peđa and Ivana were killed. Two minutes later, I was in front of the café. The image was horrifying; 150 people were there. What I didn’t understand was why none of those 150 people at least threw a chair at him. But when my daughter explained it happened in a split second and nothing could be done, I accepted that.”
A Brother’s Sorrow: “Peđa has been shot…”
Predrag’s brother recalled the moment he saw 140 missed calls. When he finally reached Ivana’s sister, she simply asked if he could come. “I asked how bad it was. She told me: ‘Peđa has been shot.'”
He drove toward Arilje through heavy fog, hoping “shot” didn’t mean “killed.” He called a doctor friend in Užice who told him: “My condolences. You lost your brother, and they are fighting for your sister-in-law’s life.”
“I thought I was driving in a dream, convinced I would wake up and call them… but as I got closer to our family home, my legs literally didn’t want to move in that direction. Seeing the huge number of people gathered to give blood, to help… the sobbing, the grief… that’s when you realize it happened.”
Source/Photo: Kurir