How a psychotic woman struck her friend 250 times before killing him in Maleny, Queensland
A woman who was convinced her elderly friend was a paedophile brutally assaulted the man for days trying to make him confess.
Colin Hastie, 63, died in April 2019 following a sustained assault by Danielle Sheryl Erica Beutel in which she struck him almost 250 times.
Audio of 13 ‘interrogations’ of Mr Hastie were found on Beutel’s phone after her arrest.
Suffering a psychotic illness exacerbated by substance abuse, Beutel can be heard making delusional claims amid Mr Hastie’s screams, Brisbane Supreme Court heard.
Colin Hastie (pictured) was beaten to death over six days by Danielle Sheryl Erica Beutel, a court heard – his injuries were consistent with being struck by a broomstick and a metal rod
She not only believed Mr Hastie was involved in a paedophile ring but was also part of a DNA experiment, accusing him of stealing 16 fetuses from her to create a ‘superior race’.
Beutel, now 43, also claimed Mr Hastie had injected her with the SARS virus as well as mercury.
The court heard witnesses had seen Beutel behaving erratically, repeatedly punching Mr Hastie and accusing him of being a pedophile up to six days before his death at Maleny in the Sunshine Coast hinterland north of Brisbane.
One witness said Beutel had described Mr Hastie as ‘putrid scum’ and that she was going to take him out to a forest to kill him.
She told another that Mr Hastie had ‘stolen her eggs and DNA’.
Others noticed Mr Hastie with facial bruises and looking ‘defeated and severely beaten’.
Days later another witness went to Mr Hastie’s house after hearing yelling and was initially stopped by Beutel from entering before seeing the 63-year-old inside with two black eyes and a bleeding arm.
Police were called but when they arrived at Mr Hastie’s house, no one was home.
Witnesses saw Beutel acting erratically and punching Mr Hastie in the six days leading up to his death (pictured, police at the home where the assaults took place in 2019)
Later that morning Beutel visited a neighbour and asked them to call the police because Mr Hastie had fallen down the stairs.
Mr Hastie was pronounced dead at Maleny hospital a short time later.
His injuries were consistent with being struck with a broom stick or a metal rod and he died from complications as a result of multiple blunt force injuries, his autopsy revealed.
Beutel repeated her ‘bizarre’ claims about Mr Hastie when interviewed by police.
She also told officers she was related to the Queen and that she could ‘get justice through her connections’.
Police then found her phone audio recorded over two days that included 248 ‘striking sounds’ and Mr Hastie groaning, screaming in pain and begging not to be hit any more.
One of the recordings – lasting 13 minutes – was set to be played during proceedings on Wednesday but Justice Paul Freeburn instead opted to listen to it outside court.
Beutel was suffering from a serious mental illness that caused a psychosis made worse by alcohol and drug consumption, the court heard.
‘The tragic death of Colin Hastie was caused by a woman who was completely detached from reality,’ defence barrister Catherine Morgan said.
She said psychiatric reports indicated Beutel was ‘floridly psychotic’ at the time of Mr Hastie’s death and driven by the intensity of her delusions.
The court heard Beutel was a ‘very unwell woman’ with a serious mental illness exacerbated by her alcohol and drug consumption at the time (pictured, the Brisbane Supreme Court)
‘She was a very unwell woman,’ Ms Morgan said.
The fact that Beutel was recording her repeated assaults of Mr Hastie indicated the ‘depth of her psychosis’, she said.
Ms Morgan said Beutel’s psychosis was now in remission and that she had gained insight with improved mental health, acknowledging that her ‘bizarre ideas’ were now false.
Beutel pleaded guilty to manslaughter and will be sentenced on Thursday.
