Joran van der Sloot has been given a 28 year sentence in prison in Lima for the aggrevated murder of 21 year-old Stephany Flores in May 2010. This means with a sentence reduction for the amount of time he has spent on remand, he will released in 2038. After which he will be deported from Peru. Earlier this week the Dutchman pleaded guilty to all charges hoping to be given a reduced sentence. The Public Prosecution had demanded 30 years in prison. Van der Sloot says he will appeal.

Joran van der Sloot met Ms Flores in a casino in the Peruvian capital Lima. The couple returned to his hotel room where she was found dead two days later. She had been strangled. Van der Sloot fled the country but was captured in Chile by police. He was then handed over to the Peruvian authorities at the border, where he was made to cross the border himself thus avoiding lengthy extradition procedures.

Van der Sloot made a full confession to police not long after his arrest. Although he said he killed her because she saw information on his laptop pertaining to the case of missing teen Natalee Holloway.

Joran van der Sloot has been notorious since the Ms Holloway disappeared on the Dutch Antilles island Aruba in 2005. Ms Holloway was last seen with Van der Sloot. Her body was never found, but she was declared dead by a US judge only yesterday. Although he is still the prime suspect in the case, Van der Sloot has never been charged due to lack of evidence. This is in spite of a televised confession recorded by secret cameras in a conversation set up by crime journalist Peter R. de Vries.

His trial began just one week ago. The public prosecution demanded 30 years in prison and 200,000 Peruvian sol in compensation. He has been ordered by the court to pay almost 60,000 euros in compensation to the Flores family. The trial ended early after Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to all charges.

(nc)

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