Life sentence for Dulwich man who stabbed ex-wife to death while their daughter was in room next door

A father has been jailed after fatally stabbing his ex-wife as their nine-year-old daughter heard the screams in the next room.

Stony Stoica, whose 44th birthday falls tomorrow – the day after his sentencing – then calmly walked into Peckham police station an hour later.

He told stunned staff at the desk he had murdered his much-younger ex-wife Beatrice Cenusa, 26.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Inner London Crown Court today, Wednesday February 2.

The killer of Lordship Lane, Dulwich, will serve a minimum term of 18 years for the murder.

He had previously pleaded guilty at the same court.

Police were called at around 10.09pm on Friday, July 23 last year after Beatrice’s neighbour found her lying in a pool of blood in the hallway of her home on Lordship Lane.

Officers and paramedics tried in vain to save her but  she died in hospital several hours later.

Less than an hour after the attack, a barefoot Stoica covered in blood, handed himself into Peckham police station where he told officers he had just murdered his ex-wife.

CCTV enquiries showed him walking towards the victim’s address at 10.01pm.

He sprinted away from the house around nine minutes later. He fled leaving his mobile phone, wallet and ID cards at the home.

He had been seen running off by a neighbour who found his ex-wife making a last call still with a knife in her chest.

The couple had divorced in late 2019 after a 10-year marriage which had been marred by Stoica’s gambling addictions and his jealous and possessive attitude towards Beatrice.

She had previously reported him to the police in January 2021, after receiving hundreds of messages from Stoica – but asked for the report to be closed two months later.

Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin, who led the investigation, said: “Stoica’s attack was so vicious that Beatrice was discovered with the knife still embedded in her chest.

He is clearly an extremely dangerous man and it is right that he will now spend a significant amount of his life in jail.

“Not only did he kill a completely innocent women, he also had no regard for the fact their nine-year-old daughter was in the next room.

She will have to live with losing her mother in these traumatic circumstances for the rest of her life. Our thoughts today remain with her and the rest of Beatrice’s family.”