UK
‘Sadistic’ women who filmed themselves torturing man to death jailed for at least 26 years
Two “sadistic” women who filmed themselves torturing a man to death have been jailed for at least 26 years.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of graphic violence and threats
Zoe Rider, 36, and Nicola Lethbridge, 45, were sentenced for a “vicious and extremely violent joint attack” on 60-year-old neighbour Stephen Koszyczarski in his Sheffield flat.
The court heard how they recorded their attack on the vulnerable man as they falsely accused him of being a paedophile on 9 August 2023.
Mr Koszyczarski was robbed by the pair and was left bleeding and with 22 separate injuries around his face, head and body. He died from his injuries two days later.
Stephen Koszyczarski. Pic: South Yorkshire Police
On Wednesday, Rider and Lethbridge were jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years.
They were also sentenced to 13 years in prison for robbery, to run concurrently with their life sentences.
Judge Sarah Wright told Sheffield Crown Court the pair were “both clearly fuelled by drugs and probably alcohol” when they carried out the attack.
She said: “Having heard the evidence in the case, I have absolutely no doubt that you went into Stephen’s flat together in order to threaten, attack and rob him, no doubt to finance further drug taking.
“For whatever reason, during the course of that robbery, you decided jointly to accuse Stephen completely spuriously, and without any reason to do so, of being a paedophile.
“You set about him in the most brutal, heartless and despicable manner. You launched a vicious and extremely violent joint attack upon him.
“You exposed his genitals, threatened to mutilate him and shouted obscenities at him. You singularly failed to listen to his denials of the accusation or to offer him any compassion when he was clearly injured.”
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Jurors at the trial were shown harrowing footage shot by Rider and Lethbridge, which included them threatening to mutilate Mr Koszyczarski with scissors.
At one point he pleads with them to stop and one of the defendants replies: “Do you think I give a f***?”
The jury was told Mr Koszyczarski died from a blunt-force force injury to his head which caused a bleed on his brain.
Among the many other injuries he suffered was bruising to his chest caused by kicks.
Prosecutors described the attack as “sadistic”.
Mr Koszyczarski used a call line to summon an ambulance as the pair left him fatally injured.
South Yorkshire Police said that after the alarm recording at around 11.30pm, but before the ambulance service arrived, the women had left the man critically injured and went to a nearby property.
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Lethbridge and Rider were arrested after police carried out door-to-door enquiries and reviewed the alarm recording.
After their arrests, officers found a video of the pair assaulting Mr Koszyczarski on a mobile phone.
Rider and Lethbridge, both of Fraser Drive, Woodseats, Sheffield, were found guilty of murder and robbery in May.
Detective chief inspector Tom Woodward said Mr Koszyczarski was “a quiet man” who “kept himself to himself and just went about his business”.
The senior officer said the victim’s death was “callous”, adding: “Lethbridge and Rider had not only subjected Stephen to mental torture and physical abuse but they humiliated him during the attack wrongly accusing him of being a paedophile which was simply not the case.”