pastor helping mentally ill people, BosNewsLife monitored Friday, February 21.
The resident from the town of Veszprem, identified as Csaba J., admitted to have strangled Pastor Eszter Andorka , 32, to death in her Budapest home early Sunday February 16, police officials told reporters.
Atilla Petofi, who heads the Life Protection Department at Budapest Police Headquarters, said the suspect did not give a motive for what is believed to be the first murder of a Hungarian church leader in decades.
Detectives have suggested that Csaba J. may have been among those receiving counseling from the 32-year old pastor. They apparently found the man after looking into Pastor Andorka’s contacts and discovering her mobile phone and bag in his flat.
CRIMINAL RECORD
"The victim had helped people with a criminal record and her home had always been open to such people," Budapest Police said in a statement to local media.
However Andorka’s friends have told reporters they can not believe that any of the people under the pastor’s care "would have turned against her."
She is said to have led an "ascetic life" and apparently did not keep any valuables in her home.
DOOR OPEN
"Her door was always open when someone was in troubled," explained Karoly Hafenscher, director at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary in an interview with Hungarian daily Nepszava. "She was a beloved teacher and prepared to make her doctorate," he added.
The murder of the pastor has underscored the situation of mentally handicapped and mentally ill people in Hungary and other former Communist countries, who were considered outcasts for decades and still lack enough professional care.
Pastor Andorka was among the relative few people who tried to improve their plight in Hungary, which has been pressured by the European Union to improve its health-care sector.
