News / Local
Zimbabwean woman batters husband with granite pestle and mortar as he slept on sofa
06 Feb 2023 at 00:00hrs | Views
A mum of three battered her husband with a pestle and mortar as he slept on a sofa 'because she wrongly believed he wanted to kill her'.
Angelina Moya, who was suffering from delusional thoughts, caused life threatening injuries to the victim who she had been married to for 28 years.
Moya and her husband David, who were both nurses, came to the UK in 2002 from Zimbabwe. The 54-year-old's mental health began to deteriorate in 2008 when she was reprimanded in relation to her care for a patient which resulted in her feeling unsupported, said Mary Prior KC, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court.
In 2015 her delusional condition was evident when she made a series of other wrongful complaints against her husband claiming that he had failed to sign divorce papers, had threatened her and was responsible for the death of her sister. Miss Prior said in 2019 she had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act but was released after appealing.
The court heard the couple were living in Tinsley Avenue, Cradley Heath and Miss Prior said: "On February 3 2020 David Moya was asleep on the sofa in the living room. Two adult children were upstairs.
Birmingham Crown Court
"As a result the daughter came downstairs and Moya put the blood stained pestle and mortar in the kitchen and told her daughter that she thought she had killed him."
She said that the victim had suffered five separate skull fractures and bleeding within the brain and that he remained in critical care for 13 days before being eventually discharged on April 4.
When interviewed Moya told police she had been the victim of coercive and controlling behaviour and that she believed her husband had been trying to poison her. Moya had previously been found unfit to stand her trial and a jury found that she had committed the act of grievous bodily harm which resulted her being sent to a secure psychiatric hospital in August 2020.
However after her condition improved she appeared at the city's crown court and pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding. Judge Richard Bond said that now and at the time of the offence she was suffering from a mental disorder, namely a severe depressive illness and readmitted her to the hospital.
Angelina Moya, who was suffering from delusional thoughts, caused life threatening injuries to the victim who she had been married to for 28 years.
Moya and her husband David, who were both nurses, came to the UK in 2002 from Zimbabwe. The 54-year-old's mental health began to deteriorate in 2008 when she was reprimanded in relation to her care for a patient which resulted in her feeling unsupported, said Mary Prior KC, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court.
In 2015 her delusional condition was evident when she made a series of other wrongful complaints against her husband claiming that he had failed to sign divorce papers, had threatened her and was responsible for the death of her sister. Miss Prior said in 2019 she had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act but was released after appealing.
The court heard the couple were living in Tinsley Avenue, Cradley Heath and Miss Prior said: "On February 3 2020 David Moya was asleep on the sofa in the living room. Two adult children were upstairs.
"As a result the daughter came downstairs and Moya put the blood stained pestle and mortar in the kitchen and told her daughter that she thought she had killed him."
She said that the victim had suffered five separate skull fractures and bleeding within the brain and that he remained in critical care for 13 days before being eventually discharged on April 4.
When interviewed Moya told police she had been the victim of coercive and controlling behaviour and that she believed her husband had been trying to poison her. Moya had previously been found unfit to stand her trial and a jury found that she had committed the act of grievous bodily harm which resulted her being sent to a secure psychiatric hospital in August 2020.
However after her condition improved she appeared at the city's crown court and pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding. Judge Richard Bond said that now and at the time of the offence she was suffering from a mental disorder, namely a severe depressive illness and readmitted her to the hospital.
Source - Birmingham Mail
