Woman who strangled elderly mother on Christmas morning in 'spur of the moment decision' jailed for eight years
Stefania Glowka killed her mother at their home in Wiltshire on Christmas Day last year before attempting to take her own life
A daughter who strangled her elderly mother with a belt on Christmas morning before attempting to take her own life has been jailed for eight years.
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Stefania Glowka, 64, killed Tamara Glowka, 86, at their home in Devizes, Wiltshire, on December 25 last year.
Glowka pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and was acquitted of murder by a unanimous jury following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Judge Julian Lambert told Glowka that determining the correct sentence in the case was “difficult”, with Glowka stating she wishes to serve her sentence and then take her own life following her release.
The judge called the incident "an utterly extraordinary and deeply sad case".
The judge said: “Your mother had no one else in the world but you. You had no one else in the world but your mother.
“You were devoted to one another and you loved your mother as deeply as she loved you.
“You showed extraordinary kindness to your mother and you gave her the highest level of care.”
The court heard Glowka had been the primary carer for her mother, who she lived and shared a bedroom with, and who had recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Jurors were told Glowka, who never married or had children of her own, said she wanted to “let mum go” after both women experienced a deterioration in their mental health.
Glowka prepared her mother’s favourite meal on Christmas Eve, with the women spending the evening together before going to bed.
Overnight, Glowka struggled to sleep and felt she had no energy to continue to care for her mother.
She later told police it was a “spur of the moment” decision to strangle her using a belt as she rose from her bed to use the bathroom in the early hours of the morning.
Glowka then laid next to her deceased mother and attempted to take her own life, in what the judge described as “the most determined effort”.
“You did not succeed in your attempted suicide and when you awoke either from sleep or unconsciousness you rang the police and told them what you had done,” the judge told her.
“You admitted responsibility at the scene and when interviewed by the police.”
Glokwa told police her mother had tried to resist as she strangled her.
When asked why she carried on, she said: “I don’t know.”
Police challenged her, saying: “You described each other as the sunshine of each other’s lives. What made you continue?”
She gave the same reply: “I don’t know.”
The court heard she had also said: “It would be nice if we could die on the same day.”
In a call to emergency services that morning, she said: “Good morning, I have just killed my mum and I am going to kill myself.”
When officers arrived at the property, Glowka directed them to a box containing documents including a letter addressed to a close friend.
This stated: “I killed my mum as I cannot continue to look after her and I love her too much to put her into an institutionalised care.”
Two psychiatrists assessed Glowka and believed she was suffering from a recurrent depressive disorder, the court heard.
All 12 members of the jury returned following their verdict to watch Judge Lambert sentence Glowka on Tuesday afternoon.
One female juror wept as Nicholas Corsellis KC read a letter from Glowka, which she had written to the judge ahead of the verdict.
In the letter, Glowka described her mother as “the best mother in the whole world” and always made her feel “much loved and cherished”.
“I learnt from her how to tell right from wrong and I feel very bad that I let her down at her most vulnerable, when she needed me the most,” she wrote.
“My crime violated so many written and unwritten codes.”
Glowka said she felt bad for “betraying the oath” she took 10 years ago when she became a UK citizen and felt “very ashamed” of herself.
“The only way I can repay my debt to the country that took me in is by working in prison to improve the environment for other prisoners and staff, because they also matter,” she continued.
“I know mother would have wanted that, because she always worked so hard and was the best example I had in front of my eyes, all my life.
“I made myself a pariah, outside civilised society, and I feel I don’t have the right to return or belong there anymore.
“My mother is with me everyday. I talk to her and often hear her voice.
“I had a shining light in my life and I extinguished it.
"Now there is only darkness around me.”
Speaking after the case, Detective Sergeant Chris Hughes of Wiltshire Police described the incident as “incredibly sad”.
“I’d like to thank and pay tribute to all the officers who attended this incident, as well as the various staff from our partner agencies,” he said.
“It can’t have been easy on a day which revolves around family, but they dealt with this incident with the usual professionalism, care and diligence.”