A mother has told of her heartache after her five-year-old son was stabbed to death by his grandmother while she suffered delusions linked to paranoid schizophrenia.
Cristina Lazar said she ‘never would have trusted’ her mother Elena Anghel, 51, to care for her son David-Mario alone if she had shown any signs of illness.
The little boy’s lifeless body was found by police at his home in Earlsdon, Coventry, last January, and Anghel said she ‘had done what she had done to Mario out of love’.
Today Anghel admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order following the ‘truly tragic’ case.
Mario’s devastated mother said in a victim impact statement that Anghel ‘loved’ her son and and that she never saw him do anything around him that would ‘alarm’ her.
Anghel, who had an extensive history of treatment in Romania for psychotic and depressive disorders dating back to at least 2009, killed Mario at their house in Poplar Road on January 25, the court heard.
The prosecution accepted her not guilty plea to a charge of murder and she was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court by Mrs Justice Cockerill to an indefinite hospital order.
In a victim impact statement read by prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith, David-Mario’s mother Cristina said: ‘Mario was five years old when he died and he was killed by my mother.
‘I still cannot believe this has happened. It is over a year ago now and nothing changes.’In our home Mario is everywhere. There are pictures and memories of him all over.
‘He will never be forgotten. I never saw her (Anghel) do anything around my son that would alarm me. She loved him and he loved her.
‘I would never have trusted her to care for Mario if she had shown any signs of illness.’
Passing sentence, High Court judge Mrs Justice Cockerill described the case as ‘truly tragic’.
The judge told Anghel: ‘The sad truth is that when you killed Mario you were exceedingly mentally unwell. Your delusions were all encompassing. You had in effect lost contact with reality.
‘You were convinced that your grandson was in such danger of terrible suffering that it would be better to kill him and that is what you did. I am sure you would never have hurt, much less killed, Mario had you not been very ill.’
Imposing a hospital order ‘without limit of time’ on Anghel, the judge said: ‘You have expressed profound remorse… so much so that you have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
‘That course (a hospital order) is supported without reservation by all of the medical professionals.
‘You will need treatment for the rest of your life. The evidence is clear – this is best done in hospital.’
Anghel will be readmitted and detained at Ardenleigh women’s secure unit in Birmingham for an undisclosed amount of time while she seeks treatment for her mental health.
A post-mortem confirmed that David Mario had died from his 29 stab wounds. Anghel was looking after the little boy while his parents were at work on January 25 last year.
She was sectioned under the Mental Health Act following his death and remanded in a secure mental health facility.
Cristina Lazar said that she can never forgive her mum Elena for her horrid crime.
