Woman lets mother rot alive, be eaten by maggots

[Syt]

Mum 'found lying in litres of faeces'

A MELBOURNE woman allowed her mother to be eaten alive by maggots and left her dying on a floor surrounded by her own waste, a court has heard.

Kateryna Pyrczak's St Albans house allegedly smelt like a "rotting corpse" when she was discovered by paramedics lying on her kitchen floor with gangrenous legs on November 10 last year.

Police allege the 72-year-old's right leg was gangrenous from knee to foot and was being eaten by maggots and her body was covered in ulcers.

Ms Pyrczak was rushed to the Western General Hospital but died from multiple organ failure and septicemia later that night.

Today, her daughter and sole carer Mary Eve Pyrczak, 49, fronted the Melbourne Magistrates' Court charged with negligently killing her mother.

Ms Pyrczak allegedly told police she did not call an ambulance because she feared it would cost her $800.

Neighbours had told Ms Pyrczak to seek medical attention for her mother last September, police allege.

She eventually called triple-zero on November 10.

Detective Senior Constable Victor Anastasiadis told Ms Pyrczak's bail hearing her mother's house smelt "like a rotting corpse" and was littered with cans of fly spray and air freshener.

"Basically the foot was being eaten away by them (the maggots)," Det Sen Const Anastasiadis told the court.

"I don't believe any amount of words can truly represent the injuries she presented with."

Det Sen Const Anastasiadis also alleged Ms Pyrczak 's mother was surrounded by "a number of litres of human faeces" when discovered.

He strongly opposed bail.

"I think a strong message needs to be sent out to carers in our society ... that this sort of conduct will not be tolerated," Det Sen Const Anastasiadis said.

Ms Pyrczak's lawyer Matthew White said there were aspects of the case that were clearly "distasteful".

But he said the charge gave his client the presumption of bail.

Mr White said his client, who owned a home in St Albans close to her mother, was not a flight risk.

He said she denied all allegations put to her by police.

Magistrate Phillip Goldberg, who was shown photographs of the body, granted Ms Pyrczak bail on conditions including not contacting prosecution witnesses.

Ms Pyrczak will next appear in court on August 21 for a committal mention.

WTF? How can people live like that?

[Caliga]

I remember a similar case in Texas a year or so ago.

[Josquius]

WTF is wrong with you today? Nothing but blood and guts...

[Syt]

WTF is wrong with you today? Nothing but blood and guts...

I'm very bored while I wait for LotRO to update and thought this place needed some color. Could have posted about the 30th anniversary of Thatcher coming to power, but then again political discussion on this board is mostly dead.

[DGuller]

The article is most likely somewhat misleading.  The maggots weren't eating the woman alive.  The woman first rotted away piece by piece, and the maggots were mainly eating away at the rot.

[Berkut]

The article is most likely somewhat misleading.  The maggots weren't eating the woman alive.  The woman first rotted away piece by piece, and the maggots were mainly eating away at the rot.

Just what I was thinking - the reason maggots are so useful to debride wounds is precisely because they WON'T eat living flesh.

[jimmy olsen]

WTF is wrong with you today? Nothing but blood and guts...

I'm very bored while I wait for LotRO to update and thought this place needed some color. Could have posted about the 30th anniversary of Thatcher coming to power, but then again political discussion on this board is mostly dead.

It would have been amusing watching Josquis froth at the mouth over Thatcher.

[Drakken]

Bloody Australians, again... 

[Gambrinus]

Bloody Australians, again... 

Yep, Germans would never let a perfectly good dinner go to waste like that