Teenager beheaded man 'who sexually molested his girlfriend'

Nikita Rasskazov, 16, has been formally charged with murder and abusing the body of the 19 year old male friend he confessed to killing. A 14-week investigation has concluded he stabbed Artyom Shustov to death before severing his head with a kitchen knife he had used for a barbecue. 

The brutal act came after his girlfriend Olena Matsneva, 17, told him how at a party she had been intimately touched by Shustov and another male, in an attack abetted by a female friend, according to evidence discovered by state investigators. 

The sexual assault was soon after Olena had refused to have intercourse with Shustov. Olena was held by her female friend called Alexandra while Shustov and another male 'touched her breasts and genitals'.

This left Olena 'humiliated' and while she did not report the attack to police, she did tell Rasskazov.

In evidence to be presented at his trial Rasskazov said he had not intended to kill or behead his friend, but simply to talk to him about the alleged sexual assault, getting him to apologise to the girl.

But, he said, 'the talk turned to quarrel and then a fight'. He chased Shustov stabbing him several times. After he died, Rasskazov was 'blinded by rage' and used his knife to behead the corpse of a friend he had worked with at summer camp.

He then 'took the severed head by the hair, put it in a garbage bag, and then into a backpack', according to a local report in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.  'He dragged the body to another part of the park and put Artyom's student papers  on his chest.'

Then he went home, hid his bloodstained clothes in his wardrobe, took a shower and went to bed. The next day Nikita went to Olena and told her about the murder and showed her the severed head.

Rasskazov was trying to 'prove his love' to Olena by showing her the severed head, it was reported. Olena was said to have been distraught. Rasskazov then disposed of the head in the Silinka River. 

Olena had posted a spooky picture before the killing - an image of her and Shustov together, possibly at the party which led to the scandal. It only shows only his head as she makes a shocked expression. Other accounts from the party say Shustov had forced Olena to have oral sex with him.

Due to his age, Rasskazov faces a maximum 10 year sentence if convicted. Rasskazov is full of remorse for killing Shustov, according to his parents.

Olena's mother has spoken of how her daughter was in love with Rasskazov. 'My daughter literally blossomed when she began to date with Nikita,' she said.

'She was very worried if they quarrelled. He often visited our house, and was a very calm and quiet guy. I even wondered why my daughter chose Nikita rather than another lad. She said that Nikita was the best.'