Peru court sentences Van der Sloot to 28 years for murder

LIMA,  (Reuters) – Dutch citizen Joran Van der  Sloot was sentenced to 28 years in prison by a Peruvian court today for killing a woman in Lima in 2010, exactly five years  since 18-year-old Alabama native Natalee Holloway disappeared  after spending time with him.
He had accepted homicide and theft charges filed against him  in his trial and apologized on Wednesday for killing 21-year-old  business student Stephany Flores after meeting her in a casino  in Peru’s capital.
Van der Sloot, 24, fidgeted nervously and sweated profusely  during sentencing and was ordered to pay 200,000 soles ($74,074)  to the Flores family. He shook his head afterwards, sighed and  was escorted out of the courtroom by guards. He did not say if  he would appeal the ruling.
He could conceivably spend less than a decade behind bars  because Peru often releases prisoners for good behavior after  serving a third of their terms.
Peruvian police said Flores, a highly skilled poker player  and the daughter of a wealthy businessman, was robbed and killed  on May 30, 2010, five years to the day after U.S. citizen  Holloway vanished during a high school graduation trip to the  Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.
Van der Sloot has told police he strangled, beat and  suffocated Flores after he found her looking at his laptop  computer in his hotel room. The laptop contained emails about  Holloway’s death.
He fled to Chile after Flores’ death but was arrested there  and returned to Peru for questioning.
The Flores murder probe brought renewed attention to the  case of Holloway, who vanished during a high school graduation  trip to Aruba, where Van der Sloot was living.
Van der Sloot was arrested twice in the Holloway case but he  was never charged due to a lack of evidence as they never found  her body. An Alabama judge declared her dead on Thursday.
Holloway’s family has criticized Dutch authorities for not  making more progress in the case.