40-year old Irina Gaidamachuk befriended her victims, mostly pensioners, before killing them.
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A 40-year-old Russian woman was Monday sentenced to 20 years in jail for brutally murdering 17 elderly women with a hammer over an eight-year period.
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Irina Gaidamachuk, a mother of two, murdered the women and robbed them. She began her crimes in 2003, said a court in the Urals region.
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Gaidamachuk confessed to fraudulently entering the homes of her victims -- aged between 61 and 89 -- and killing them with a hammer before robbing their flats.
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She was found sane by psychiatric experts.
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Investigators said she became acquainted with the pensioners, won their trust and offered to help them around the house. Once inside, she killed them and stole their money.
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Gaidamachuk was arrested in Krasnoufimsk town in June 2010. She will also have to pay 30,000 rubles (around $900) as legal expenses.
