Face of Nation : A man who killed a Perth mother of two, reversing over her as she tried to stop him stealing her son’s car, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years after being convicted of murder.
Marija Karovska, 51, was run over in the driveway of her family’s Mirrabooka home in February last year after she went to the front yard to search her Toyota for her purse, which Micheal Spratt, 27, had earlier stolen from inside the house.
Daniel got into the car via the rear passenger door and repeatedly punched Spratt while holding him in a headlock as Dijana shouted “you’ve run over my mum”.
After Spratt got out of the car and ran off, Daniel drove the low-slung vehicle forward as his heavy-set mother was trapped underneath, running over her again. Dijana testified there was “no way” they could have pulled her out.
Spratt claimed he wasn’t aware someone was behind the car, which Justice Joseph McGrath did not accept. “Your only concern was to steal the vehicle and make a getaway as soon as possible,” Justice McGrath said on Friday.
Spratt unleashed an angry outburst when the jury handed down its guilty verdict, pulling off his shirt, throwing it into the public gallery, repeatedly shouting “racist c****” and yelling he was going to appeal, but he was subdued when he heard his jail term.
He was also handed concurrent sentences for a string of other earlier offences including breaking into a Balga home, abducting the resident at knifepoint and forcing him to drive to an ATM to withdraw cash.
Spratt warned the victim not do do “anything stupid” or he’d cut off his penis and burn down his house. The court heard the death of Ms Karovska, who was the primary carer for her disabled husband, had been devastating for her family.
