Sanita Brauna
Died 21 September 2017
Who they were
Sanita was born in 1972 in the port town of Ventspils, Latvia. She played the violin, sang soprano in a church choir and had trained as a teacher and in business studies. She had worked in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands before coming to Iceland in 2016, where she worked as a cleaner at an apartment hotel. She was a mother of three. Colleagues called her "the glue of the group" and the peacemaker when disagreements arose.
What happened
On the evening of Thursday 21 September 2017, Sanita was killed in her home on Hagamelur in Reykjavík by a man she knew. A few days later she was due to fly home to Latvia to see her children. In 2018 Reykjavík District Court sentenced the perpetrator to 16 years in prison; the Court of Appeal (Landsréttur) upheld the sentence.
Verdict / confirmation
Héraðsdómur Reykjavíkur, 18 Apr 2018: 16 years + compensation; upheld by Landsréttur.
Perpetrator: An asylum seeker from Yemen (Iceland Review/RÚV).