Diogo Bettencourt murdered Anthony Sharma at the HMO they shared in November 2023
Diogo Bettencourt murdered neighbour Anthony Sharma at a HMO in Erdington
A man who brutally murdered his neighbour at their shared home has been jailed for more than 11 years.
Diogo Bettencourt beat, stabbed and strangled Anthony Sharma to death at their HMO in Doidge Road, Erdington in November 2023.
He then concealed the 43-year-old victim’s body in a sleeping bag and tried to use his bank card eight times.
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Bettencourt was caught after the landlady of the property entered Mr Sharma’s room and discovered his body.
The 37-year-old, originally from Canada, was found guilty of murder.
But experts confirmed he has schizophrenia and psychosis, which they believed severely impacted his actions.
Today, Monday, December 15, at Birmingham Crown Court, he was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 11 years and 237 days.
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Judge Paul Farrer KC said: “I conclude that at the time you attacked Mr Sharma, your ability to exercise appropriate judgement, self-control, and make rational choices was impaired significantly by schizophrenia, accompanied by paranoia and delusions.
“It is not a case where you contributed to your own illness by failing to accept appropriate treatment.
“Your illness was previously undiagnosed and you had no insight into your condition.”
He told Bettencourt his mental health conditions did not ‘absolve’ him, but they provided ‘substantial’ mitigation.
The judge also acknowledged he had been taking heroin in the run-up to the fatal attack, but he confirmed it was not a drug that made schizophrenia worse.
Mr Sharma was described as a ‘generous, warm-hearted man who would help anybody’, by his family.
His partner of seven years stated she had been left ‘devastated and heartbroken’ by his death, while his brother said his ‘whole world has broken down’ since.
The first signs of Bettencourt’s mental disorder came in May 2023 when he jumped from a first-floor roof ‘for no good reason’ and fractured his heel.
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Then, during August and September of that year, his mother, based in Canada, noticed his behaviour deteriorate.
In one conversation, Bettencourt said she was not his mother, while in another video call, he kept looking behind and claiming people were out to get him.
The jury was also told about a neighbour who recalled him staring at him repeatedly from his bedroom window.
Mr Sharma had lived at the HMO for around one year and had caused ‘no problems’, according to landlord Musarat Bi.
Bettencourt came to reside at the shared accommodation in September 2023.
On November 3 that year he got in an argument with an unidentified man who stabbed him several times.
Mr Sharma was present but did not intervene and remained in his room at the time.
The court heard Bettencourt may have been ‘angry’ with him for not helping.
Shortly after 10pm on November 8, 2023, he and Mr Sharma went to Booze & Beverages off-licence on Slade Road.
Mr Sharma bought alcohol and gave some money to Bettencourt, who purchased sweets.
They returned to the HMO, which was the last time the victim was seen alive.
Bettencourt fatally attacked him sometime between 10.30pm and 2.30am the following morning, when he was seen leaving the property alone.
Beforehand, he had spoken of being short of money and contemplated committing a robbery.
And after the killing Bettencourt used Mr Sharma’s bank card eight times, including withdrawing cash after the victim’s benefits payment had cleared.
Judge Farrer stated it was ‘possible’ they had argued over the stabbing incident six days earlier.
He said: “Ultimately, I cannot be sure what caused you to attack Mr Sharma.
“I cannot be sure this was a murder committed for gain.”
Bettencourt inflicted more than 60 separate areas of external injury to Mr Sharm,a including a stab wound to the side of his face and a wound to his throat.
His cause of death was ‘likely’ to be strangulation, either by a ligature or hands.
Bettencourt continued to attack him when he was either dead or lay there dying.
Judge Farrer said: “The nature and duration of the attack lead me to the conclusion you intended to kill him.”
Having killed Mr Sharma, Bettencourt covered his body with a sleeping bag.
On November 10 he asked Ms Bi to take him to a cash machine where he used the victim’s card to withdraw £100.
He gave £75 of it to her for outstanding service charges.
Bettencourt then lied to the landlady saying that Mr Sharma had travelled to Scotland to see his family.
He tried to deter her from entering the victim’s room claiming it was messy and saying ‘you don’t want to do that’.
But Ms Bi did enter and saw Mr Sharma’s feet protruding from beneath the sleeping bag.
She did not let on that she had seen anything suspicious, enabling her to leave the property and call the police which led to Bettencourt’s arrest.
His mental health conditions only deteriorated after his incarceration, leading to delusions including believing he could live off sunlight, that he was invincible, that he was basketballer Michael Jordan and that he could predict the future.
Bettencourt was subsequently transferred to the Tamarind Centre mental hospital in Birmingham.
Initial medication failed to yield any improvement, and Bettencourt was diagnosed with ‘treatment-resistant schizophrenia’.
He is now on clozapine, which is described as a ‘last resort’ drug.
Judge Farrer said: “You remain very unwell and you are in need of long-term treatment.
“Psychiatrists believe if your symptoms got worse you would pose a high level of risk to others.”
Bettencourt has previous convictions for drug-trafficking in Canada but not for violence.
Lisa Wilding KC, defending, told the court he was not engaging with treatment and spent most of his time in his cell.
She said he ‘remains delusional’ but his behaviour was ‘settled’.
The barrister added: “Despite the guilty verdict this was a killing done by someone who was extremely unwell.
“He is now more unwell and is going to remain unwell for the remainder of his life.”