Dragana Haines said she felt marked for life by the grief of losing her husband, and was struggling to tell their four-year-old daughter Athea that he would not be coming home.
"They consider themselves brave; that's not bravery," she told Britain's Sky News television, speaking from their home in Croatia.
"It's a cowardly act to behead someone who has his hands tied behind his back, who is kneeling.
"You are not a human being. You must be a monster to do something like that."
His murder was revealed in a video released in September by Islamic State, the extremist group that has seized control of vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
Dragana Haines said she did not know how to explain things to their daughter, telling her only that they were now alone and had to help each other.
"I'm trying to make her understand that Daddy's not coming back," she said.
She spoke of the agony waiting for news of her husband.
"Or would it be a day when they will call me and say something bad has happened?"
When she was called by David's brother, who told her that her husband's captors could not hurt him any more, "that actually marked me for the rest of my life.
"I saw him in the video. I just saw the part when he was talking," she said breaking down.
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