Warning: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing.

A man who stabbed a sleeping family friend to death in a “senseless” act has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 26 years.

Ernestas Juska, 21, pleaded guilty to murdering Nina Denisova and then sexually abusing her body in the early hours of the morning after a party at his mother’s house in August 2024.

Juska, from Dartford in Kent, told police he stabbed the 39-year-old with a large, blunt kitchen knife multiple times in the face, neck, and chest.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that afterwards Juska walked to a nearby bus stop and asked a passerby to call the police because he had just killed someone.

Prosecutor Danny Moore KC told the court that evening Juska, who had consumed so much cocaine and alcohol he was sick, was criticised for being unemployed by his mother.

He said Juska, aged 20 at the time, wanted to “lash out” at someone and chose Ms Denisova, who had gone to sleep at the house.

The court heard Ms Denisova, who was described as a “happy and hard-working” person that had come to the UK from Lithuania for a better life, was woken up by being stabbed in the neck.

“She did not die, and she began to struggle,” added Mr Moore.

“He put his hands over her mouth. He then stabbed her.”

Juska later told police he “felt nothing” after the attack.

Passing the sentence, Judge Mr Justice Dias said the “last moments of Nina Denisova’s life were lived in extreme, unexpected and undeserved horror”.

He added that Juska’s consumption of violent pornography – which he was long fascinated with – had an “extreme impact” on him.

Juska, a Lithuanian national who came to the UK when he was eight, admitted to intentionally killing Ms Denisova and sexually abusing her body.

“I’ve done everything, and I will confess,” he told Kent Police.

Det Sgt Max Gregory said Juska committed an “act of shocking and senseless brutality, seemingly without reason or any hint of remorse”.

The victim’s brother, Aleksandras, told the court Ms Denisova’s death had left a “big hole” and had an “indescribable” impact on the family.

“We can never forgive him for what he’s done,” he said in a statement read out.

“We will never be able to understand why he did what he did that sad day.”

Juska’s defence Beth O’Reilly KC told the court he was emotionally frozen, hopeless, and helpless.

She said her client expressed how sorry he was and could not undo what he did, although she acknowledged the comments might have rung hollow to those in court.

His “shame is palpable”, Ms O’Reilly added.