Daughter Maintains Innocence in Breaking Bad Bitcoin Murder Trial
Kuntal Patel, 37, is currently on trial in the UK for the attempted murder of her mother, whom she allegedly poisoned with abrin after seeing a similar stunt on Breaking Bad. The ricin-esque substance was purchased with bitcoin on a dark web site and delivered to a friend's home, disguised in a candle.
Patel allegedly dosed her mother Meena's Diet Coke in December 2013 after Meena abused her and forbade her from marrying her boyfriend, Niraj Kakad. From The Guardian:
Taking to the witness box for the first time on Monday, Patel dabbed tears away from her eyes with a handkerchief as she told how her mother slapped her and called her a "fucked-up-brain girl."
Patel, a graphic designer, said that when she told her mother Kakad had described her as controlling, she erupted in fury and beat her. She said: "I think for her that was a sign of him being disrespectful to her."
Patel said her mother "started slapping" her "on and off."
Kuntal pled guilty to attempting to acquire a biological agent or toxin last year, the BBC reports, but denies using the poison on her mother. She told police she intended to poison herself out of depression stemming from the abuse, but changed her mind and threw the abrin away. Somehow, it made its way into Meena's drink, who ingested it but survived.
Previously, the court heard that Patel had written, "I wish I was dead or my mum dies I hate her so much," in an email to a friend about the abuse—which also included shouting, curfews and and constant check-ins, and beatings that left brusies on Patel's arm, she said.
According to the Daily Mail, Patel referred to the man who sold her the poison as "Heisenberg." When asked in court what effect the poison took in the Breaking Bad episode, she said, "Just a painless death - that was in the programme."