SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- A jury on the Spanish island of Tenerife Monday watched security camera footage of a British woman being decapitated, allegedly by a homeless drug addict.
Prosecutors are seeking incarceration in a secure psychiatric hospital for Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, 29, a Bulgarian who was living on the street when he allegedly killed Jennifer Mills-Westley in 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported. Deyanov told the jury he hears voices that sometimes want him to kill.
"I've heard voices for five years. They tell me I am an angel of Christ, sent to create a new Jerusalem," he said. "They are like my commanders. Sometimes they tell me to kill, sometimes to fight, sometimes to pray."
In addition to watching the videotape, jurors heard testimony from two men who said they saw Deyanov running down the street with Mills-Westley's head. Davide Balsamo, an Italian resident of Tenerife, said he used his motorcycle helmet to knock Deyanov down.
"I came out of the hardware store and heard a commotion," Balsamo said. "I saw a man running and in his hand he was carrying a head. He was completely covered in blood and then he dropped the head which rolled away."
Mills-Westley, a retiree from Norwich, owned a vacation home on Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands. She was apparently selected at random as a victim.
Her older daughter, Sarah, 43, of and her younger daughter, Samantha, 38, who lives in the south of France, were both in court. Sarah testified, saying her mother had become worried about conditions in Tenerife.
"I believe she became increasingly concerned about vagrants. It was nothing specific but she was concerned overall that Tenerife was not as safe as when we used to visit 30 years ago," she said.
