The nine-year-old son of a businessman killed by a Romanian couple as part of a honeytrap scam said ‘my family is destroyed now’ in a heartbreaking statement.
Gary Mouat, 37, was found dead at his home in Banbury, Oxfordshire, in July last year after his glass of wine was spiked with the sedative gamma-butyrolactone (GBL).
The married father-of-one was killed by Adina Mihai, 31, who was posing as a sex worker, and her partner Madalin Dumitru, 30.
They would arrange to meet men paying for sex at their homes and would drug them unconscious to steal from them, Oxford Crown Court heard.
Mr Mouat and another man, Malcolm King, 80, died, while two others survived similar plots.
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In a victim impact statement, which was recorded and played to the court, Alfie Mouat said the killers had ruined his life.
‘My dad was funny, silly, loving and a trickster, we always used to prank each other,’ he said.
‘Why did you have to kill my dad, you could have just taken the money, he was really kind, he would have given it to you.
‘He was my dad and now he’s gone.
‘Ever since my dad died my life has been really tough. I miss him every day and will never get to see him again.
‘I will never be able to get another dad and that makes me feel so sad.
‘You have ruined my life and all the plans we had to do things together. My family is destroyed now.’
He added: ‘I hope you realise how many hearts have been broken because of what you did.
‘After it happened I was so scared that something would happen to my mum, I didn’t want to let her out my sight.
‘I couldn’t sleep because I kept having nightmares that something bad happened to her too.
‘I will never get over my dad being killed, I will never forget him and I will miss him for the rest of my life. I hope I make him proud.’
His mum Louise, 35, told the pair ‘our lives changed forever because of what you did’.
She said: ‘I had to tell my eight-year-old son (now nine) that his daddy had died. Someone who should have been around to watch him grow up was gone.
‘I will never forget the scream that came from him when he realised his daddy was gone forever.
‘He dropped to the floor and begged me to say it wasn’t true. We drove back holding hands the whole way home.
‘The nights that followed were the worse nights of my life. I sat with him while he cried and cried until he eventually cried himself to sleep.
‘He begged me over and over for the opportunity to see his daddy one last time, to get one last daddy cuddle.
‘Not only did I have to tell my little boy his daddy was dead, but I also later had to tell him that someone caused him intentional harm and he had been killed.’
She added: ‘He is still so scared that something bad will happen to me. He wakes up in the night still now having nightmares about what happened.
‘He tells me that it’s his fault because he should have stayed home with his daddy and not come away with me.
‘An eight-year-old blames himself for his daddy being killed.’
Members of the Mouat family wept as they watched them deliver their statements.
Julian Evans KC, prosecuting, told the court the defendants did not intend to kill their victims but instead intended to cause harm by rendering them unconscious.
‘In summary, Adina Mihai and Madalin Dumitru drugged their victims via the administration of GBL, a potent drug, concealed in alcohol,’ he said.
‘They did so with a specific purpose in mind: to render their victims unconscious inside their homes in order to steal property from them.
‘To carry out this plan, the defendants offered sexual services from a woman to each victim for money.
‘After contact was made through a website, and arrangements made by phone, Mihai and Dumitru drove to the home address of each victim.
‘While Dumitru waited nearby, Mihai would enter the victim’s home. There, she would persuade the victim to drink alcohol laced with GBL to render them unconscious.
‘Once the victim was unconscious, Mihai would look for property to steal. Then she would rejoin Dumitru, leaving the victim alone and unconscious.’
No sexual services were in fact provided by Mihai to any of their victims, he added.
‘Instead, acting under the pretence that she was there to provide sexual services for money, Mihai secretly administered GBL to each victim concealed within alcohol.
‘Put simply, the defendants were willing to act in this way out of greed.
‘Together, they no doubt drew comfort from the shared belief that they could proceed with their obviously criminal activity safe in the knowledge that their victims were highly unlikely to report what had happened to them to the police.
‘That confidence drew upon the obviously sensitive and embarrassing nature of the activity each victim believed they had agreed to.
‘Namely, meeting a stranger at their home for the purposes of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for money.’
The court heard Mihai advertised her sexual services on the online site VivaStreet and the pair would take cash deposits ahead of meeting up.
Dumitru would drive her to an address and wait outside as she went about the drugging and theft.
She would find out whether their victims were wealthy and would steal watches, jewellery, aftershave and cash.
The value of goods stolen or amount of cash taken is unknown.
The defendants, who are both unemployed and in a relationship, previously lived in Birmingham, before moving to Ilford.
The court heard Mr King, who was retired, wealthy and married, had made contact with Mihai on August 20, 2024, and arranged to meet her at his home that evening while his wife was away.
His body was discovered the following morning by his housekeeper, who also found an empty bottle of wine and two wine glasses.
Mr King had long-term heart conditions and was fitted with a pacemaker, and cardiologists were able to determine the circumstances of his death after analysing the device.
The court heard that Mr Mouat’s wife and son were away for the night of July 12 last year and he contacted Mihai via Vivastreet.
The pair then travelled from Ilford to Mr Mouat’s home.
Mr Mouat drank wine laced with GBL and Mihai left him unconscious, while she searched for items to steal from the house.
He was found the following morning lying on the floor of his lounge by family friends who had been concerned that he had not been in contact with anyone since the previous day.
An open bottle of wine was found nearby with two wine glasses.
The sentencing hearing continues.
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