Politics
Mum, 29, laughed as she mowed down and killed stranger with her car because she wrongly thought he was a paedophile
A MUM laughed as she mowed down and killed a stranger she wrongly thought was a paedophile, a court heard.
Rhian Beresford, 29, crushed Stefan Melnyk, 54, to death while her two-year-old child sat in her Vauxhall Astra.
Rhian Beresford, 29, ran over Stefan Melnyk, 54, as she wrongly thought he was when a paedophile, a court heard[/caption]
Beresford admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility[/caption]
Horrified witnesses saw the victim screaming as he lay trapped under the tyres after the driver mounted the pavement and ploughed into him on Acton Lane, west London last March 22.
Beresford then stabbed Thames Water worker George Pantazi who chased after her as she tried to run away.
On Friday, Beresford, from Acton, west London, appeared at the Old Bailey to be sentenced, having admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and wounding with intent.
The court heard she was suffering paranoid schizophrenia at the time of killing.
‘LOUD BANG’
Judge Richard Marks QC handed her a hospital order without limit of time.
Mr Melnyk had stopped to cross the road and appeared to be checking for oncoming traffic before he was targeted.
A team of Thames Water engineers working nearby heard a ‘loud bang’ and tyres screeching and turned to see the horror crash, the Old Bailey heard.
They begged Beresford to stop and ran towards the car but she laughed, revving the engine as plumes of smoke billowed out from the exhaust.
As they banged on the bonnet in a bid to deter her, she reversed the car and ran over Mr Melnyk’s body again before accelerating and driving over him a third and final time.
We all screamed at the (driver) ‘stop! stop! There’s someone under the car. She didn’t stop, ignored us and then reversed over the man again, before accelerating and driving over him one more time
George Pantazi
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said: “Using her car in effect as a weapon, she drove at Mr Melnyk, striking and throwing him to the ground.
“She then deliberately drove the car over his prone body, revving the engine and rolling the car forward to crush him.
“She inflicted very significant injury to Mr Melnyk which proved fatal.”
Brave workman George Pantazi chased Beresford when she got out of the car as police arrived at the scene.
But she turned on him ‘with a smirk on her face’ with a kitchen knife and plunged it repeatedly into his chest, the court heard.
‘SCREAMING’
Mr Pantazi said: “I heard a loud bang and the sound of someone screaming.
“I turned around and saw a man under a black car screaming underneath the car.
“We all screamed at the (driver) ‘stop! stop! There’s someone under the car’.
“She didn’t stop, ignored us and then reversed over the man again, before accelerating and driving over him one more time.”
He said Beresford “sat in the car laughing and smiling at us, trying to rev the car forward”.
Mr Pantazi added: “The driver started driving the car forwards and backwards over the man underneath. We have tried to lift the car off the man to stop it.”
He suffered a cut to his hand in the attack, but his heavy work clothes protected him from serious injury.
Police officers arrived on the scene and detained Beresford with a Taser.
Mr Melnyk’s brother John Melnyk said he “spent his life helping people” as a trade union representative and supportive family member.
Following her arrest the defendant was screaming all men were paedophiles and she spat at the officers while struggling violently
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson
A post-mortem revealed the cause of death was multi organ failure, traumatic cardiac arrest and traumatic ‘crush’ asphyxia with multiple chest and abdominal injuries.
Beresford was suffering ‘largely untreated’ paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the tragic incident and had delusional beliefs that paedophiles were going to harm her child.
Beresford spat and fought with police who tried to arrest her, telling them: “It was my mum, she did, she told me not to tell anybody, my mum is a paedophile, she looks after children and she is a paedophile.”
Mr Atkinson said: “Following her arrest the defendant was screaming all men were paedophiles and she spat at the officers while struggling violently.”
Judge Marks paid tribute to the “considerable bravery” of Mr Pantazi in “putting his own safety entirely to one side” to help detain Beresford.
Most read in News
Awarding him £750, the judge said: “It was entirely fortuitous as events turned out that he was not seriously injured.”
Beresford was sentenced to a section 37/41 hospital order under the Mental Health Act and will remain in a mental health facility.
She will not be released until medical professionals deem it to be safe.
