person holding knife
Julie Hambleton
Julie Hambleton
February 13, 2024 ·  4 min read

Dad, who stabbed friend for raping his 8-year-old daughter, released from jail: “Everyone is on his side”

Trigger Warning: This story contains explicit details of child abuse and murder that some may find unsettling.

A parent’s instinct to protect and avenge their children is strong. Most parents will say they will do nearly anything for their child. This was the case for this father in Russia when he found out his friend had been raping his little girl. He stabbed the man to death and is being hailed as a hero rather than a murderer.

Russian Dad Kills Man Who Raped His Daughter

It’s hard to imagine someone harming a child, let alone that someone being your own friend. A thirty-four-year-old father in Russia, identified only by his first name of Vyacheslav, has unfortunately had that experience. He was drinking with his friend, 32-year-old Oleg Sviridov, who fell asleep. Vyacheslav decided to have a look on his friend’s phone to see what he had been looking at before he passed out. That’s when he came across some disturbing footage on his friend’s phone. That footage was a video of Sviridov raping the man’s eight-year-old daughter. He had left his daughter in his friend’s care several times as a babysitter. (1)

Vyacheslav posing with former and late friend Oleg

Vyacheslav was enraged immediately and confronted Sviridov. The man, however, fled the scene quite quickly. The father notified the police who began a manhunt for Sviridov. Vyacheslav, however, decided not to wait for the police. Instead, he continued to search for the man himself.

The angry father found Sviridov faster than the police did. Upon finding his former friend, he allegedly stabbed him to death. He said that the deceased man “stumbled and fell on the knife in a quarrel” in a forest near their village.

Further Investigation

An investigation followed into both situations: The rape allegations and the murder allegations. Sadly, the police discovered that Vyacheslav’s daughter was not Sviridov’s only victim. Not only did he sexually abuse the little girl on more than one occasion, but the police also found three videos of the man abusing three other children on the deceased man’s phone.

The authorities found Sviridov’s body about a week after Vyacheslav saw the videos. They then took Vyacheslav into custody for questioning and discovered he was the one who did it. The police also said that, based on the timeline and the coroner’s report, it was more likely that Vyacheslav murdered the man immediately and stashed his body in the forest. (2)

Read: Enraged mother threw boiling water on her husband for sexually assaulting her children

The Villagers Spoke Out

Naturally, the villagers were all horrified when they found out what Sviridov had been doing to their children. All of his victims were little girls between the ages of 6 and 11. 

“He was constantly seen with the girls, the daughter of his partner and Vyacheslav’s older daughter, in the village. It never crossed anyone’s mind what he was doing with children.” said one villager.

The villagers, along with several television personalities, called the police station to speak out against Vyacheslav’s arrest. Each of them asked the police to not charge the father with murder, considering the victim raped not only his daughter but several other children. 

“He is not a murderer — he protected his daughter and our children too. Everyone is on his side.” said one person online.

Vyacheslav’s father and the rest of the villagers created a petition that quickly garnered over a thousand signatures for the man’s release. They praised him for doing what he did because the laws in Russia would have put the pedophile behind bars for only eight years. That, they say, is nowhere near enough to protect their children.

“Every father would have done this [killed someone they saw abusing their child]. This will be an example to everyone,” the petition said. “Therefore, we demand understanding from the executive branch, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee.”

Many of those who know Vyacheslav vouched for him being a good man and father. The police eventually did release him, however, he was on a two-month house arrest pending trial. Experts of the law say that, despite the reasons and his local support, he would still likely have to serve some time for what he did. Vyacheslav’s current situation is unknown.

Keep Reading: A 17-year-old boy died by suicide hours after being scammed. The FBI says it’s part of a troubling increase in ‘sextortion’ cases

Sources

  1. Russian dad hailed as hero for killing friend who allegedly raped his daughter.” NY Post. Dana Kennedy. September 4, 2021.
  2. Russian father facing murder charges for stabbing to death ‘paedophile who raped his eight-year-old daughter’ has legal fees crowdfunded by neighbours.” Daily Mail. Will Stewrat. September 8, 2021.