Tony Vita guilty of murdering lesbian affair wife

A JEALOUS husband was yesterday convicted of murdering his wife of 19 years after he discovered she was having a lesbian affair.
The High Court in Glasgow. Picture: Johnston PressThe High Court in Glasgow. Picture: Johnston Press
The High Court in Glasgow. Picture: Johnston Press

Tony Vita, 47, stabbed his wife four times – three times in the chest and once in the back – at their family home in Baillieston, Glasgow, on 20 September last year.

The fatal wound to Marion Vita’s back, which severed one of her main arteries, caused her to bleed to death within minutes. Vita, a first offender, faces life imprisonment when he is sentenced next month.

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Judge Sean Murphy QC, described the case as “unpleasant and distressing”.

Vita, who worked for the Department of Work and Pensions, denied killing his wife, a Crown Office manager, and claimed she had died as the result of a bizarre accident after she fell on the knife during a struggle.

He had told how he had tried to kill himself after discovering his wife had been having an affair for almost a year and that he had not realised his wife was injured during the incident.

But, the High Court in Glasgow heard the couple’s next-door neighbour Helen Colquitt had heard three blood-curdling screams through the wall from the Vita’s semi-detached home.

She said the screams were immediately followed by a woman shouting: “No don’t”, followed by the sound of someone running upstairs.

In evidence Vita said that he did not realise his wife was injured and said he went upstairs and stabbed himself twice in a failed suicide bid after struggling with his wife.

He had no explanation as to why his 48-year-old wife’s blood was on the front of the dressing gown he was wearing and on his glasses.

Detectives who examined the home after the murder found an entry on a calendar in the couple’s kitchen for 20 September, 2013, which stated “Marion = cheating lesbian whore”.

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Vita had also cut his wife out of family photographs and smashed a mug which said “Home is where the heart is”, the court heard. Mrs Vita’s lover Elwira Rumniak, 34, told the court she met her at a party in October 2012 and described how they fell in love. Miss Rumniak told prosecutor Douglas Fairley QC they had wanted to set up home together and had talked of adopting a child.

Mrs Vita had been staying in Edinburgh with Miss Rumniak but came home to Baillieston to face her husband after confessing by text to the affair.

In a rage Vita brutally stabbed his wife four times and then left her to die. The Vitas’ 11-year-old son found her lying dying on the couch.

He said: “My mum was unconscious … her lips were quite grey. She was not moving at all. She was lying on the sofa, sort of on her side.”

The schoolboy tried opening his mum’s eyes and talking to her before a 999 call was made.

The youngster said Miss Rumniak had been one of Mrs Vita’s “best friends”, but that his dad had “suspicions” about the true extent of their relationship. He said he had been aware of his parents arguing.

Police officers who interviewed Tony Vita shortly after the killing said he displayed no grief or sense of loss at the death of his wife.

When the jury’s verdict was announced Vita sat in the dock with his head bowed and as he was led away to the cells shook his head.

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