Leanne Carol Prak faces Supreme Court over drunken, knife-licking murder of Michael McEvoy

MICHAEL “Macca” McEvoy had waited 25 years for a house of his own — and it was taken away in an instant by drunken, knife-licking murderer Leanne Carol Prak, who he had tried to help.

Convicted murderer Leanne Prak. Picture: Nine News.

• Killer ‘licked bloody knife’ as victim collapsed
• Eyewitness: Killer said ‘Now you can see what I’m capable of’
• Knife-licking murderer found guilty, sentenced to life in jail

MICHAEL “Macca” McEvoy had waited 25 years for a house of his own — and it was taken away in an instant by the drunken, knife-licking murderer he had tried to help.

In the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Mr McEvoy’s grieving family paid tribute to a man who’s life and future were stolen by his house-guest, Leanne Carol Prak.

Glenise Davis, told the court that Christmas would be difficult without her brother by her side.

“He and I were the black sheep, never really fitting in with the rest of the fold ... we didn’t always see eye-to-eye but we were always there for each other,” she said.

“I was very proud to be his sister and, with his death, part of me is missing.

“Twenty-five years he waited for his own place, and he wasn’t allowed to keep it because his life was so tragically taken from him.”

Michael "Macca" McEvoy, who was murdered by Leanne Carol Prak. Picture: Supplied by Mr McEvoy's family.

Prak has already been sentenced to life imprisonment. Picture: Nine News.

Prak, 42, was found guilty at trial of having murdered Mr McEvoy, 65, at his Holden Hill unit in May 2016.

She was staying at the unit as Mr McEvoy’s guest because, had he not opened his new home to her, she would have been on the streets.

Despite his kindness, Prak stabbed Mr McEvoy once in the heart, licked his blood off the knife and told an eyewitness “now you can see what I’m capable of”.

Mr McEvoy collapsed, and Prak then stabbed him a further seven times in the back — when police arrived, she tried to blame the eyewitness for her crime.

Her blood alcohol level at the time was 0.37.

In her victim impact statement on Tuesday, Mr McEvoy’s niece Sally Spruke said she loved him “immeasurably” and would miss him “every day”.

“He was stolen from this world in the most horrific way,” she said.

Jane Powell, for Prak, argued her client had not intended to kill Mr McEvoy and had instead committed a “spontaneous act of drunken irrationality”.

She asked Prak serve no more than the mandatory 20-year minimum term, saying her client had already lived “a life of unimaginable abuse” and found her actions “detestable”.

Chris Edge, prosecuting, rejected those claims.

He said Prak’s criminal history included a 2006 incident in which she threatened a man with a knife while vowing to “cut his throat”.

“This attack was unprovoked and unjustified ... it was eight stab wounds to critical parts of Mr McEvoy’s body, revealing her intent to ensure he was dead,” he said.

Justice David Peek — who has already imposed the mandatory life sentence — will hand down Prak’s non-parole period in the new year.

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