The grandmother of a five-year-old boy who was stabbed to death at his home has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order after admitting his manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Romanian national Elena Anghel, who was suffering delusions linked to paranoid schizophrenia, killed David-Mario Lazar, known to his family as Mario, at their house in Poplar Road, Earlsdon, Coventry on January 25 last year. The court was told the schoolboy suffered 29 areas of sharp force injuries after Anghel “lost contact with reality” due to an acute and sudden deterioration in her mental health.
Passing sentence on the 51-year-old at Warwick Crown Court, 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."
