Brother of Harold Hill murder victim Evaldas Svolkinas says killers must face justice
Evaldas Svolkinas - Credit: Archant
The body of Evaldas Svolkinas was found in a stream on the Harold Hill / Noak Hill border in December.
Marius Svolkinas holds a picture of his older brother - Credit: Archant
The “twin” brother of a man murdered two weeks before Christmas has appealed to the community not to let his killers remain part of “normal” society.
Speaking to the Recorder just days after the ashes of Evaldas Svolkinas were buried in Lithuania, Marius Svolkinas said: “There can’t be a place for people like that [his killers] in normal society.”
Evaldas, known as Elvis to his English friends, went missing after leaving his Dorking Rise, Harold Hill, home on December 13 last year.
Three days later the carpenter’s body was found in a stream off Wincanton Road. He had died from head injuries and a murder investigation was launched.
Fighting back tears Marius, 32, said: “We were born on the same month, on the same day, he was two years older, but we were like twin brothers, now there’s a gap where he used to be.”
Elvis had moved to England in 1999 from Lithuania in search of a better life and spent a few years in Hornchurch before moving to Harold Hill in 2008.
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His younger brother recalled the day that diabetic Elvis went missing.
He said: “I got a call from his girlfriend that his phone was switched off, then got another from one of our close friends.
“He’s diabetic, I was thinking that maybe he’s let his sugar level drop down somewhere in the city.
“I didn’t think something like this could happen – then the police came round.”
Evaldas was cremated at the South Essex Crematorium, Upminster, on March 1, and his ashes were buried in Lithuania last weekend.
“It was so difficult to call my mother, so difficult to speak to family members in Lithuania, to tell them what happened, no one wanted to believe it,” he recalled.
Marius, who said his brother had not told him he was in any kind of trouble, is calling on those who might have any information about the murder to come forward.
He said: “I don’t have a clue who could have done this. I just want to ask people if anyone has seen or hears something, don’t keep it quiet.
“Don’t be afraid, the people who’ve done it have to be punished, they have to be moved out of the community, they can’t be just free to walk around with normal people going to work or with their families.
“There’s no place for people like that in a normal community.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room on 020 8345 3734 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
