THE mother of murdered Newport teenager Nikitta Grender has published her diary detailing the "indescribable hell" of finding out what happened to her daughter.
'Nikitta: A Mother's Story: The Tragic True Story of My Daughter's Murder', by Marcia Grender, includes diary entries in the days and weeks following the discovery of her 19-year-old daughter's body.
Eight-months pregnant Miss Grender was found dead by firefighters following a blaze at the flat she shared with boyfriend Ryan Mayes in Broadmead Park, Lliswerry, on the morning of February 5, 2011.
But further investigation found she had been raped and stabbed before the fire started.
Carl Whant, pictured, Mr Mayes' cousin, was convicted of rape, murder, arson, and child destruction in March 2012, and was handed a life sentence - with at least 35 years behind bars.
During the trial, Newport Crown Court heard that Mr Mayes and Whant had been together at a house party the night before the murder.
At about 5am Whant said he was leaving to get cigarettes from his grandmother’s house and when Mr Mayes asked to go with him, he refused. Whant later reappeared at the party.
The accused denied the charges and claimed DNA evidence was due to him having consensual sex with his victim the night before, with the full knowledge of Mr Mayes, but his cousin denied this in court.
During sentencing, Judge John Griffith Williams told Whant: "You set fire to her body and deprived her family and Ryan the chance to see her face one last time. You fancied Nikitta and went to her flat armed with a knife. You overpowered her."
In November, 2012, Whant unsuccessfully appealed against the length of the minimum tariff imposed, having claimed the killing of Kelsey-May should not have been considered an aggravating factor.
In her book, as advertised on Amazon, Ms Grender recalls the agony of "holding her granddaughter for the first time in a police mortuary" and how she could not see her daughter because of the shocking state her body was in.
She also speaks of the "indescribable hell of learning to live without the most important thing in her life".
The book, printed by John Blake Publishing, also features ghost writer Geraldine McKelvie.
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