Trial Begins for Man Accused of Murdering Godmother in Niš A Niš courtroom is now grappling with a brutal killing and an even harsher question: was this cold-blooded execution or the act of a man detached from reality?

On February 6, at around 7:30 a.m., prosecutors say 55‑year‑old Duško G. lay in wait for his godmother, 43‑year‑old Aleksandra Š., outside her family home in Niš. When she parked, he allegedly approached her car, opened fire, walked back to his own VW Golf, then returned to shoot three more times, leaving her with multiple gunshot wounds to the neck, abdomen, and chest that killed her on the spot before attempting to flee.

The trial opened this week at the Higher Court in Niš, where the prosecution painted a picture of a “cold‑blooded” ambush motivated by a “sick obsession” with the victim, including messages he reportedly sent even from prison. Since his arrest, Duško has been held under psychiatric supervision, and the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office has pushed for him to be committed to a psychiatric institution rather than a conventional prison sentence.

Enter the key witness: court‑appointed psychiatrist and expert witness Sanja Damnjanović. She told the court that medical commissions concluded Duško suffers from a “chronic non‑organic mental illness,” a form of psychosis in which a person “perceives people and events” but draws conclusions that “have nothing to do with reality” and becomes ever more convinced of those distorted beliefs. In her words, “Duško sees events his way, he is not real,” with his actions driven by delusions that “completely overwhelmed” him at the time of the killing.

That framing sparked immediate pushback from the victim’s family. Their lawyer, Petar Stanojević, challenged the idea that someone allegedly unable to control his actions could methodically track Aleksandra, wait for her, shoot her, and organize an escape, pressing the court to look beyond narrow psychiatric labels and focus on responsibility and punishment.

As testimony continues, the court is edging toward a stark binary: life behind bars, or indefinite compulsory treatment in a locked psychiatric ward—each outcome carrying its own version of justice for a family demanding accountability and a system insisting on clinical nuance.