PSYCHOTIC LOVER MURDERS WOMAN AND SETS CAR ON FIRE IN BIRMINGHAM
A court has heard how Damien Dinobewei, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, murdered his lover Tia Kounota and subsequently set fire to the car containing her body.The 34-year-old was in a highly disturbed state after having stopped taking his prescribed medication.
The court proceedings revealed that Dinobewei punched and strangled Tia Kounota before driving her corpse around Birmingham and then igniting the pink Audi in Erdington.
It was reported that Dinobewei, who had been discharged from a mental health clinic and was staying at a rehabilitation center, admitted to manslaughter but was found guilty of the killing.
He has been ordered to stay in a secure hospital indefinitely.
Friends and family reacted with anger and sadness at the sentence, highlighting the tragic loss of Kounota, who was just 27 and training to become a social worker.
Her mother mentioned that Dinobewei had been volatile and controlling towards her.
Eyewitnesses recounted how they saw him push Kounota into the vehicle, with one witness describing her kicking out before becoming unresponsive.
Firefighters discovered her body after extinguishing the blaze, with her position in the car described as 'inverted' with her head resting in the footwell.
