Death-kick culprits in tears
Sean Fewster
March 31, 2007

FOUR men responsible for a "rugby kick" manslaughter were yesterday reduced to tears by the anguish of their 56-year-old victim's wife.

In the Supreme Court, Yifa Bednikov read out a statement detailing her suffering since the death of her husband, George. " Mine is a life of fear, a life of distress," she said. " I see him so many times in my dreams, in the night. " I cry for him and I want him back."

Her words were too much for Toby Joseph Newman, Robert John Bates, Sidney Payne, and Tosh Edward Ray Kelly. Dressed in black, the four men bowed their heads almost to their knees, one of them wiping away tears.

In March, 2005, Mr Bednikov and his son clashed with the four men during a vandalism spree at Pennington.

The 56-year-old sustained a kick to the head, likened by prosecutors to a "rugby kick-off", and died in hospital four days later. Newman, Bates, Payne and Kelly pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Yesterday, Mr Bednikov's daughter, Lily, said the incident had seriously damaged her family. Mrs Bednikov said her husband's death had emotionally crippled her. " My children have taken the burden of the family life because I have become a child to them, a burden to them," she said.

The men will be sentenced on a date to be set.

Source: © 2007 News Limited