According to court hearings, a woman ridiculed her husband for failing to get an erection after he killed her.
Keith Bettison, 73, allegedly murdered 48-year-old Ildiko Bettison after tormenting her with a ‘squeaky voice’ like Mr Punch at their home in Chessington, Surrey.
The couple were ‘big drinkers’ and their relationship had been deteriorating after Bettison lost his job, the Old Bailey heard.
Bettison was fired for gross misconduct after crashing a bus and then reversing it six months prior to the murder.
Bettison and the couple would regularly drink more than one bottle of spirits, and Bettison often wouldn’t get out of bed until she finished a big glass of Gin and Tonic.
Their daughter Zsuzsika Bettison, 25, told the court the family had gone to several counselling sessions relating to her mother’s alcoholism in the months leading up to her death.
Keith Bettison, 73, allegedly murdered 48-year-old Ildiko Bettison after tormenting her with a ‘squeaky voice’ like Mr Punch at their home in Chessington, Surrey, the Old Bailey has heard
Old Bailey believed Bettison was a heavy drinker and had often been in loud row with his wife.
After her mother’s liver disease diagnosis, the couple quit drinking. However, they resumed their habit a month later.
Graduate Zsuzsika said of her father: ‘He would make noises and stuff.
‘He would say what she said, but sort of do it back in a voice, like a childish voice, because he was annoyed.
‘It was just to annoy her, because he was annoyed she would not stop getting at him.
‘He would call her names, like lazy and b****.
‘It would just be that sort of voice, he would call her fat and stuff.’
Zsuzsika captured two videos of her and her father arguing drunkenly in weeks leading up to her murder. The footage shows her mother shouting at her dad as he laughs back insults.
In the video, Ildiko can be seen shouting: ‘F*** you, don’t f****** call me f****** names, I don’t give a f****** s***.
‘Can’t do nothing in bed, you can’t even go hard enough.’
Zsuzsika said: ‘I wanted to show my mum what she was like when she was drinking, and I thought might help.
‘It was typical, but that was bad.
‘She would always say “You defend Dad over me.”’
Zsuzsika claimed that her father called Zsuzsika after the alleged crime.
She continued: ‘I answered the phone, and he was crying,
‘He was crying and said: “I killed her, I f****** killed her.”
‘He repeated: “I killed her, I f****** killed her. I could not f****** take it anymore.”
‘He repeated he strangled her.
‘I think he was still in the car.
‘He said he’d reached the end of his tether.’
The court heard that Ildika was ‘a nice mum’ but became abusive after she drank.
‘It was not her, it was obviously the alcohol. However, when she was drunk she transformed into a new person.
‘My dad wouldn’t start the arguments, it was always my mum.’
She claimed that her father had hit her in the face after her physical attack on him.
Kate Bex QC, prosecutor said that yesterday’s neighbour Debbie May lived just 10 years next to Bettison. They were good friends and she even called him Ilde.
She claimed that they were happy together until about two years ago, when they began to drink heavily and start to argue.
Ms May said the walls between their houses were ‘paper thin’ and she could their arguments.
‘She heard the defendant tormenting her by mimicking her, in a squeaky Punch and Judy type of voice. She heard him call her a fat cow.’
Ms Bettison came to Ms May’s door at 9:10pm on October 26, drunk and swaying, the court heard.
She showed Ms May her black eye and said ‘look, he’s punched me’.
Ms May wanted to tell her to go, but she told him that he was still in love with her.
‘Debbie May told her that if things didn’t change one of them would end up dead,’ said Ms Bex.
Ms May’s mother was staying with her daughter on October 30, and they both heard shouting coming from the couple’s bedroom.
The Hungarian-born victim knocked on Ms May’s door wearing a nightie without any knickers on with a gin and tonic in her hand, the court heard.
“She showed bruises all over her legs and on her left arm, which she had when her husband was kneeling on her,” said Ms Bex.
Bettison called Ms May inside and beckoned her in.
Bettison called Zsuzsika at 1 a.m. on 31 October. Zsuzsika had been out with Olivia Jones.
He said: ‘I’ve killed her, I’ve f****** killed her.’
He repeated this three times and added: ‘I couldn’t take it anymore.’
Zsuzsika gave the phone to Ms Jones, who again asked what had happened.
‘I’ve had enough and killed her,’ he said.
They drove together to the address, and Ms Jones instructed Zsuzsika that she would wait for her in the car.
Bettison was standing in the doorway and repeating what he said on the phone, adding that Ildiko had been ‘horrible during the last few months’.
Ms Jones went upstairs to the bedroom and saw Ildiko lying face up on the bed and she looked ‘a little grey and a little blue,’ said Ms Bex.
Bettison with bespectacles denies murder.
Continue the trial.