The ex-wife of the man accused of mowing down a California doctor and then stabbing him to death earlier this week said she was “horrified” about what happened — and clarified that she has never feared for her life because of him.
Marla Hart told The Post Saturday that statements her father made to the paper the day before about his daughter living in fear because of accused killer Vanroy Evan Smith were not true.
“There was never any physical violence, never any domestic violence, when we were together,” she said. “We divorced because we were incompatible.”
Smith, a 39-year-old Long Beach accountant, was arrested Wednesday for launching emergency room doctor Michael Mammone, 58, off his bike and into an intersection, where he then fatally stabbed the injured cyclist, the Orange County sheriff’s office said.
“I feel completely horrified by the entire thing, horrified it was Vanroy, and horrified it was that man who died,” Hart said. “It makes no sense what happened. This was the death of an innocent man. I mourn for the victim’s family, myself and my kids.”
She also pushed back against reports that the former couple was embroiled in a custody battle for their twin girls.
“There was no bitter custody battle,” Hart said. “He always paid his child support. I was only changing custody because I was scared he was going to move.”
In his interview with The Post on Friday, her father, Stanley Hart, alleged that police were called to conduct a wellness check on his daughter a few days before the incident.
But Marla Hart said that cops did the wellness check after Mammome was killed. The Post has reached out to local authorities for clarification.
When reached by The Post on Saturday, Stanley Hart said that he might have misremembered when the wellness check took place — and also backpedaled a bit on his earlier comments about his daughter’s fear of Smith.
“There’s been a lot going on, like a whirlwind,” he said. “She just mentioned that he was getting erratic. She never said anything like he was threatening her life. I would say she was fearful for herself and children. I can’t say at what level.”
Marla Hart said she and Smith have been divorced for 10 years, and the two remained friends, even vacationing together with their daughters.
When asked about reports that he had muttered something about “white privilege” before he allegedly stabbed Mammone, Hart said she never knew her ex-husband to be racist.
“His biological father is white,” she said. “He actually did a DNA test and found out he was more white than black. He comes from Jamaica. He’s never been about race and racial privilege. The whole thing is shocking when I hear he stabbed him.”
Hart said she doesn’t know why Smith allegedly murdered Mammone.
“I haven’t spoken to him in over a month, so honestly, what has been going on with him leading up to that, I have no idea,” she said.
Hart said she was overwhelmed by media attention and asked for privacy for her and her daughters — and that she hasn’t seen the horrifying video of the tragic incident.
Ring camera footage from a nearby home showed Mammone flying over the hood of a white Lexus in the Crown Valley Parkway intersection on the Pacific Coast Highway around 3 p.m. Wednesday — followed by a man police say was Smith exiting and stabbing the cyclist to death.