Mother who drove car at man in fatal incident avoids jail sentence
A MUM who deliberately drove at a man on the pavement in Acton, hit him and revved her car engine as she drove back over him, has avoided jail for causing the injuries which killed him.
Rhian Beresford, 29, ploughed into Stefan Melnyk, 54, in a black Vauxhall Corsa while her naked two-year-old daughter was strapped haphazardly in the back on March 22 2020, the Old Bailey was told at her sentencing on February 19.
The victim, who was a full-time carer and former bus driver, was a complete stranger to Beresford and was left with ‘significant injuries’ which caused his death a day later in hospital.
After fatally hitting Mr Melnyk, Beresford then pulled a knife out from under her seat and exited the car in a state of undress, leaving her daughter in the back.
A nearby Thames Water worker, George Pantazi, ‘bravely’ tried to intervene but Beresford proceeded to stab him. His maintenance worker clothes protected him from sustaining fatal injuries.
The Old Bailey heard that Beresford was deemed fit enough for interview after the incident and said “I am so sorry,” and, “is he dead? I need to know.”
She told officers she believed herself and her daughter were in danger on that night and they left their property and got into the car.
She thought her daughter was being abused as part of a paedophile ring and heard voices telling them to leave.
As she was driving, she spotted Mr Melnyk walking down the road and the voices indicated that he was involved with the abuse.
The court heard Beresford was a lady who was “clearly deeply unwell” with then undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, exacerbated by her use of cannabis which she took to self medicate. She stated to police that she did not want to hit Mr Melnyk, but the voices compelled her to.
She told officers: “I believed I was in danger – voices in my head said it was him.”
She then said she was chased down the road and used the knife in “self-defence”.
Police later tasered Beresford and detained her.
The prosecution accepted a plea of guilty to one charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in relation to the killing of Mr Melnyk, and one charge of wounding with intent pertaining to the attack on Mr Pantazi.
The family of Mr Melnyk had been left “empty” and suffering “immeasurable grief” because of the attack, the court heard.
Mr Melnyk was a carer for his 94-year-old aunt, who had suffered a stroke.
The prosecutor said: “She greatly feels his loss both for assistance and for his company.”
The former bus driver, who “knew London like the back of his hand”, had all his ribs broken in the attack and later died from severe organ failure.
The defence said the case was a ‘tragedy’ for all parties and while nothing could bring back the victim, Beresford thought about it every day. She was a young single mum with a “fractured relationship with her family” and a “bad relationship with men,” the court heard.
Since being admitted to a mental health facility in May last year, her daughter’s father has ‘stepped up’ to take custody and has been involved in his child’s life for the first time since pregnancy.
She has also repaired relationships with her sisters.
Doctors at the facility said she was making progress, taking medication and was allowed visits from her daughter
The judge at the Old Bailey sentenced Beresford to an indefinite hospital order.
He said he thought she would be better served with doctors who could check she was taking her medication, rather than being sent to prison then monitored by the parole board on her release.
He “accepted the doctor’s recommendations” and concluded that the appropriate course of action was to order a hospital stay at a medium secure facility.