Call the police... I’ve just killed my mother
Son throws dementia sufferer mum to her death from care home balcony ‘to end her pain’
A MAN threw his dementia-suffering mum to her death from a balcony because he “could not bear” seeing her in pain, a court heard.
Robert Knight, 52, allegedly murdered June Knight, 79, after she caught a virus.
He was filmed on CCTV carrying his mother out of a fire door in her care home and dropping her head-first over first-floor railings, before she plunged 13ft to the ground. Languages lecturer Knight then told staff to “call the police, I have just killed my mother”. Asked where his mum was, he pointed to the fire door, saying: “I threw her over there.”
Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, told Basildon crown court yesterday it was not a mercy killing and Knight was not suffering from a “loss of control” at the time. He added: “He told police his mother was conscious and looking at him and was in pain.
“It’s more likely she was terrified about what was about to happen to her. He told police he wanted her to hit the ground with a big crack so she would be knocked unconscious.
“In order to achieve that, he tilted her body so that her head might hit the ground first,” he said.
The court heard onlychild Knight tried to carry his mum to a higher floor to “make doubly sure” but was blocked by a railing. Ms Knight died at Langley Lodge in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, on December 10 last year. The jury heard how Knight had battled with staff at the home about her pain relief.
Ms Knight, who had a do not resuscitate order with her son’s agreement, had been admitted to hospital days before her death, before returning to the home. CCTV from the day of the killing shows Knight carrying his 5ft 2in, sixstone mother through a fire escape before he lifted her over the railing.
Ms Knight, a widow, suffered a fractured skull and “catastrophic” injuries, and died minutes after paramedics arrived. Mr Jackson told the court: “He stood and watched her fall over 13ft to her death.
“He then walked back into the building through the fire door. He did not go downstairs to where she was lying fatally injured. He told police he had decided he would end her life.
“Asked if he had contemplated any other way, he told police he would not have been able to face the prospect of smothering her with a pillow. He admitting carrying her from her bed.”
Judge Samantha Leigh said before the case opened that the defendant “accepts that he killed his mother – the issue is his state of mind at the time”. Knight, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, denies murder.
The case continues.
He told the police that he could not bear to smother her to death
ANDREW JACKSON ON WHAT DEFENDANT SAID