Killer NHS carer knifed woman to death in front of her parents

An NHS carer who stabbed a woman to death in front of her elderly parents will be held in a psychiatric hospital indefinitely.

Zaneta Peto, 56, was employed by Efthyia Constantinou, 62, when she attacked her with a kitchen knife at the parents’ home in Westerham Avenue, Edmonton on October 30 last year.

Her elderly father was in the room as she slashed at the victim’s neck.

CCTV installed in the home to monitor the parents caught the sound of the elderly’s mother’s screams as she saw Peto kill her daughter.

Peto left the house and Mrs Constantinou was found dead with stab wounds to her neck.

Peto was charged with murder, but a judge found that she was unfit to stand trial last month as she suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

After a four-day trial of issue at Southwark Crown Court, a jury found that she did the act.

Efthyia’s husband John Constantinou choked back tears as he read his victim impact statement to the court.

‘I now wake up every morning without her by my side. Last month we had her birthday, we had our anniversary. That made the pain even greater.

‘We had many plans for the future. Special holidays, our daughter getting married, becoming grandparents. I now have to face all this alone.’

Sentencing Peto, Judge Anupama Thompson said: ‘On 29 September I found Ms Peto unfit to stand trial. A jury was empanelled on 6 October to determine whether Ms Peto committed the act as charged.

‘Today they returned a verdict that she did the act as charged.

‘I have heard very moving victim personal statements from her younger daughter and her husband John Constantinou.

‘It is clear from everything they said and from everything I have seen during the trial that Ms Constantinou was a warm and vibrant person for whom family was everything.

‘It was clearly a tragic loss, and the extreme and unexpected circumstances of this case left a huge void in the centre of her family.

‘I am conscious that there is nothing that the court can do to compensate her family for the loss of Ms Constantinou.

‘I understand that the distress and grief is made worse by the random and unexpected nature of the attack on Ms Constantinou by Ms Peto.

‘It was clear from all the reports at the time of the offence that Ms Peto suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and laboured under the delusional belief that Ms Constantinou was a threat to her.

The judge ordered Peto’s indefinite detention in a psychiatric hospital under Section 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act, 1983.

Earlier prosecutor Paul Casey said: ‘Shortly before 5pm last Wednesday the police received a call from the address on Westfield Avenue, which led them to go to the address at 5.18pm

‘Officers found Ms Constantinou lying on the kitchen floor covered in blood.

‘She had sustained multiple laceration injuries predominantly to the area of her neck.

‘Treatment was commenced, and the London ambulance arrived on the scene shortly after but her life was pronounced extinct shortly before 6pm that evening.’

A knife, approximately 8cm and 2cm wide was found in the kitchen sink. The top of the blade was bent and the hilt was bloodstained.

The CCTV footage installed by Ms Constantinou captured sound and video, and was motion activated.

Mr Casey said: ‘The cameras, one in the lounge and one in the kitchen are motion-activated and record footage as well as sound.

‘The kitchen footage ends at 20 minutes past four and the Crown cannot say at this stage why that recording stopped, the defendant was asked during interview whether she had interfered with it but she denied doing so.

‘There is footage from the lounge of the elderly man sitting on the sofa and voices and screams can be heard, the Crown’s case is that these voices were inside the home.

‘From 4.20pm on the lounge footage, the defendant can be seen coming in and repeatedly encouraging the elderly man to remain in the room.

‘It is the Crown’s case that by this point in time the deceased had sustained the injuries that would kill her.

‘Accordingly the Crown’s case is that between approximately 4.10pm to 4.20pm this defendant attacked Ms Constantinou.’

In interview Peto accepted that she was present at the property, and said that Ms Constantinou had been bullying her recently, and encouraging other carers to do so.

She also believed that messages were being sent about her about the BBC.

Peto, of Charles Street, Enfield, was charged with murder, and was found to have done the act.
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