Ljubljana - The Ljubljana District Court has sentenced a 40-year-old man to three years in prison for the robbery of the rectory in Višnja Gora in December last year. Milenko Hudorovac pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial, but then changed his mind and denied guilt until the end of the proceedings, Dnevnik reports.

Hudorovac pleaded not guilty in court on Monday, saying that he had actually been taking drugs with two friends on that night. He also said he would never have hurt a pastor because he had accepted God last year.

Defence lawyer Sergeja Bogunič also tried to convinced the judges that there was no evidence of guilt, but to no avail, as the panel of judges found him guilty.

They took into account the fact that Hudorovac has five children and some other mitigating circumstances, as he could have been sentenced to between one and ten years in prison. The alibi given by his two friends was deemed not credible, as their statements were not consistent.

Hudorovac is one of the three men who robbed pastor Slavko Judež in Višnja Gora on 24 December last year. They broke into the rectory, assaulted him, demanded his money and valuables and tied his hands and feet before fleeing.

The rectory and the priest have claimed EUR 1,600 and 2,100 in material damage, respectively, which was upheld by the court, while Judež also claimed EUR 3,000 for non-material damage and was referred to civil proceedings.

In addition to Hudorovac, his accomplice Samo Brajdič was already sentenced to a year and nine months in prison for the same robbery, and he will also have to pay a part of the material damage.

Hudorovac has been convicted 31 times in the past. In 2016, he broke into the premises of the pastoral association in Slovenj Gradec and tried to break into the rectory in Radeče, for which he was sentenced to five months in prison last year, while he is also currently on trial for robbing a priest in Rovte near Logatec.