Leanne Prak guilty of murdering Michael ‘Macca’ McEvoy in Holden Hill unit in 2016, sentenced to life in prison
A JURY has taken less than two hours to find a woman who stabbed a man in the heart, licked his blood off the knife, and then stabbed him a further seven times, guilty of murder.
- Killer ‘licked bloody knife’ as victim collapsed
- Eyewitness: Killer said ‘Now you can see what I’m capable of’
- Killer ‘tried to blame eyewitness’ immediately after stabbing
- Knife-licking, eight wounds “doesn’t make killer a murderer”
A JURY has taken less than two hours to find a woman who stabbed a man in the heart, licked his blood off the knife, and then stabbed him a further seven times, guilty of murder.
On Monday afternoon, a Supreme Court jury of six men and six women agreed Leanne Carol Prak’s slaying of Michael “Macca” McEvoy was not manslaughter, but rather the most serious crime under law.
Prak, who was extremely intoxicated at the time of the stabbing, showed little reaction to the verdict, while Mr McEvoy’s family was overcome with emotion and cried out “yes”.
Justice David Peek said there was no reason to refrain from sentencing Prak immediately.
“I have to advise you that, as you probably already know, you have been convicted of murder, and there is only one sentence that may be passed in South Australia and that is a sentence of life imprisonment,” he said
“I formally sentence you to life imprisonment.”
Prak, 42, stood trial for murder after prosecutors refused to accept her guilty plea to the lesser crime of manslaughter.
They alleged she stabbed Mr McEvoy, 65, once in the heart and seven more times in the back, likely after he collapsed, in his Holden Hill unit in May 2016.
Prosecutors told jurors Prak had licked Mr McEvoy’s blood off the knife after stabbing him in the heart, telling an eyewitness “now you can see what I’m capable of”.
They said the knife tested positive for Mr McEvoy’s blood and Prak’s saliva, but had no forensic links to the eyewitness — who she tried to blame for the crime.
They further alleged she capable of forming the intent to murder, despite her intoxication, because of her high tolerance for alcohol.
Prak’s counsel urged jurors to reject the allegations, saying their client’s “extraordinary, offensive, macabre and bizarre” actions did not prove an intent to kill.
They said her blood alcohol reading of 0.37 explained her “more curious” behaviour, and argued the wounds to the back “were to a dead man, well after the eyewitness left the unit.”
The jury began its deliberations at 3.10pm on Monday and returned its unanimous verdict at 5pm.
Prosecution and defence counsel asked for a lengthy adjournment in order to prepare psychological reports and gather victim impact statements from Mr McEvoy’s family.
Justice Peek will hear submissions on an appropriate non-parole period for Prak in November.