Lover strangled mum then drove around with her body in pink Audi before torching car
The crown court heard the Stirchley 34-year-old was in a "florid" state, having stopped taking medication prescribed for his illness
A schizophrenic killed his lover and torched the car containing her body after coming off his medication.
Mentally ill Damien Dinobewei punched and strangled mother-of-one Tia Kounota before driving her corpse around Birmingham and setting fire to the pink Audi in Erdington.
The city's crown court heard the Stirchley 34-year-old was in a "florid" state, having stopped taking medication prescribed for his paranoid schizophrenia.
Dinobewei had previously admitted a charge of manslaughter.
Passing sentence, Judge James Burbidge QC told him: "Whatever was the spark or cause of the disagreement ultimately does not matter.
"You launched an attack upon her, albeit that no bones were broken, with sufficient ferocity to render her unconscious.
"Mercifully it appears, because of the lack of carbon monoxide in her lungs, she was dead before you carried out this dreadful act.
"The most significant aggravating feature is you attempt to dispose of the body as you did.
"This was a gross defilement."
The judge sent Dinobewei to a secure hospital indefinitely.
Friends of 27-year-old Miss Kounota, who had a seven-year-old daughter and was training to be a social worker at Birmingham City University, reacted with anger at the sentence.
One, Ellis New, branded it a "joke".
Writing on the Mail's Facebook page, he said: "The guy wants releasing from custody with all of Tia's friends and family informed of the date and let us decide his punishment.
"He stole a friend, a mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunty and he gets kept in a very comfy secure unit.
"What a joke. Miss you every day Tia."
Mark Heywood, prosecuting, said Miss Kounota's mother described her as someone with a "huge heart" but who could be easily led.
She had been in a relationship with Dinobewei for several years and he could be "volatile and controlling towards her".
Mr Heywood said the killer had been discharged from the Reaside mental health clinic in Rednal and was staying at a rehabilitation unit.
Miss Kounota was living at a friend's home in Halesowen and arranged to meet Dinobewei on July 22 last year.
Mr Heywood said a neighbour heard screams and looked out at the car park.
"She saw a muscular man dragging a woman by her hair and punching her repeatedly.
"Tia was screaming very loudly and appeared really distressed."
According to the Brimingham Mail, another neighbour saw Dinobewei push the victim into the Audi.
The resident said he saw her kick out for 20 seconds before she became motionless.
Dinobewei sped off and was spotted at a number of locations as he bought petrol at a garage and drove first towards the city centre and then Erdington.
He finally parked the Audi in The Gardens, where witnesses saw him get out carrying a petrol can.
Mr Heywood said: "He started to do something that they could not clearly see behind the driver's door.
"Moments later the car burst into flames and the defendant made his way off."
Dinobewei was arrested nearby.
Mr Heywood said firefighters only discovered Miss Kounota's body after they put out the blaze because it had been "inverted" in the vehicle with her head resting in the foot well.
He said the likely cause of death was blunt force trauma, with compression of the neck, but she may have survived for up to 30 minutes before she died.
David Crigman QC, defending, said: "They had a row which degenerated into a physical struggle.
"He punched her and held her in the area of the neck.
"She must have lost consciousness.
"Instead of trying to save her he panicked and drove off and made a crude attempt to save himself."
