Killer texted ‘Sorry’ to victim’s mum
MESSAGE ARRIVED AS POLICE CAME
MURDERER Marian Caliman stabbed his estranged wife in the face, neck, stomach, back and heart at their home in Bestwood Village then texted her mother to say “sorry”.
Stella Williams discovered the message after police arrived on her doorstep to tell her Caliman had murdered her daughter Faye, 30, at their home in Millbank Place.
He had videoed her pleading for her life and told her: “I’m going to kill you” as she cowered on the sofa.
Their two-year-old daughter was watching Peppa Pig on TV upstairs as Caliman, 32, murdered her mother. He was jailed for life last month at Nottingham Crown Court.
Yesterday, Stella told a national newspaper how her “bubbly and loyal” daughter’s life was made hell. She said: “How dare he kill my daughter then text me. It was so cold - like he was rubbing my nose in it.”
‘I LOVED him to bits. Now all I feel for him is contempt.’
So says Stella Williams, mother of murdered Nottingham woman Faye Caliman, who was stabbed to death by her estranged husband Marian.
He was jailed for life last month at Nottingham Crown Court.
Ms Williams, 50, has now spoken about how her “bubbly and loyal” daughter’s life was made hell by Caliman, 32, in an interview with the Sunday People, yesterday.
“He wormed his way into our lives but he was an evil piece of work.”
She and Faye, who had three daughters, bore a striking resemblance. “She was my little Mini-me,” she said. “We did everything together. We could be in different countries and we’d know what each other was thinking.”
Faye’s murder preys on Stella’s mind every day. She reveals how, despite early reservations, Caliman won the family round.
She added: “They met on a night out in 2013. They got chatting and he walked her home. She thought he was a gentleman. He was from Romania and had no family here so I’d buy him presents and make him feel welcome.
“He cooked at our barbecues. He was fun and mucked in. He worked in construction and he did a great job of flooring and tiling my house. I started to think, ‘I’ve got a good sonin-law.’”
The couple married in 2015 and Ms Williams paid for the wedding.
She adds: “Faye looked beautiful and was so happy. She had pulled her life together, got the man of her dreams and was happy.”
But Caliman became increasingly controlling and abusive. He threw Faye down the stairs on Christmas Eve 2016 after a row about going out with his workmates.
Stella said: “He was gone until Boxing Day. Then he messaged her, saying he ‘missed his baby.’ It was Christmas so she gave in and took him back.”
Stella only discovered how bad the relationship had become in April 2017, when Faye turned up covered in bruises.
She recalled: “She had a black eye and strangulation marks on her neck. He had gone to town on her. She swore blind she would not go back to him but she did. When we asked her about it she said she was working on her marriage. I wish now I put more pressure on her to leave.
“But she hid a lot of things. She gave him lots of chances to change but he never did. It was always his way or no way. And when she chose her way, she paid with her life.”
Faye ended the relationship in March and got a new job in telesales, which seemed to annoy Caliman.
Six weeks later he killed her after a row about babysitting. Stella and Faye spoke by phone at 7.30pm that night. She said: “At midnight, police came to the door. And that’s when every mother’s worst nightmare started.
“They had to tell me twice that Faye had passed away from a stab wound because it wasn’t sinking in. I lost vision and my hearing from the shock. But I immediately knew it was him. It hit me that I had such reservations about him at the start that I refused to meet him that first year they were together. I wish I had listened to that feeling now and done something to stop them.”
In court, Ms Williams endured the video Caliman recorded on his phone of Faye’s last moments.
Her voice breaking, Stella said: “She was on the settee in her -pyjamas crying and begging him to stop. ‘Mario, stop, please stop,’ she was pleading in the most awful voice. And he just said ‘I’m going to kill you’ very coldly.
“The video showed him punching her in the head, knocking her on to her side, before it went distorted. Then he just walked out and left the door open behind him. Police found their daughter in bed watching TV.
“She said she saw ‘Daddy hit Mummy on the head’ but we won’t know what she really witnessed until she’s older and has the words to describe it. Family life was everything to Faye and she was so focused on having this perfect marriage that I think she was ashamed to admit how he really was.
“She thought she was big and strong but she didn’t have a chance with him stabbing her.
“Faye was so bubbly and very loyal and everything revolved around her kids. She was everything someone should be rolled up into one perfect ball. We called her our firecracker. We were supposed to be going to Fuerteventura to celebrate my 50th birthday, but instead I was with her body in the chapel of rest.”
Faye’s eldest girls, aged nine and 11, live with their father, while Stella is raising Faye and Caliman’s daughter. And despite never being able to forgive, she hopes to contact his family in Romania so they can meet the child.
Stella adds: “He’ll serve 19 years so he will be in his 50s when he gets out and their daughter will be 21. She can make up her mind if she wants to see him. He’s Romanian and she needs to know her roots and her family there. She is so like Faye. I keep calling her Faye by accident and she says, ‘Nanna, I’m not Faye.’
“Every time she sees Faye’s photo she says, ‘That’s my mum. My mummy’s a big star now.’”
Faye’s ashes are buried in a graveyard over the wall at the end of Stella’s garden.
She added: I can’t bring my daughter back but maybe speaking out will help someone else’s daughter stay alive.”