A teen girl's father blamed the Russia-Ukraine war, which forced her to leave her mother behind, for his daughter allegedly killing her grandmother in a grisly murder.
Sofia Koval recently moved to Florida and had been displaying behavioral issues that her father believed were "from the war she witnessed in Ukraine and her being separate from her mother," according to an arrest report obtained by NBC 6 South Florida. On the day of the murder, the teen's father took her phone to discipline her, then left.
Koval's father returned to find his mother unresponsive with abrasions on her neck and bruising on her face, arms and legs, according to NBC 6. She was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The teen girl told her father she "struck the victim several times with a belt" in self-defense after her grandmother scratched her then started sobbing. A redacted source suspected the girl also used her grandmother's walker to strike and kill her because the source noticed it was broken, NBC 6 reported.
The suspect was then admitted to the Fort Lauderdale Behavioral Health Center because police believed she was "suffering from a possible psychotic episode," adding she appeared "very agitated and appeared aggressive at times. She was also constantly moving around."
On the way to the behavioral center, NBC 6 reported Koval allegedly "made spontaneous utterances that she had killed her grandmother while her father was not at the residence" and "struck the partition in the vehicle with her hand and caused a laceration."
Koval was charged with manslaughter as an adult and is being held without bail at the county jail. The teen faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, if convicted, but may be sentenced to juvenile sanctions.
"In the juvenile system, anyone found guilty and sentenced would have to be released after a maximum of three years and could only be kept under supervision in the community until age 21," the state attorney's office said. "Because she is not a U.S. citizen, she could be subject to deportation."
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