Brutal killer Zialloh Abrahimzadeh pleads for cut in 26-year jail term for fatally stabbing his wife Zahra
A MAN jailed for stabbing his wife in front of 300 people has asked the Supreme Court to reduce his 26-year non-parole sentence.
A MAN jailed for stabbing his wife in front of 300 people has asked the Supreme Court to reduce his 26-year non-parole sentence.
Zialloh Abrahimzadeh, 57, pleaded guilty mid-trial to murdering his wife Zahra as she was leaving a function at the Adelaide Convention Centre in 2010.
Today, Stephen Apps, for Abrahimzadeh, said the issue of premeditation was a factor to which the sentencing judge did not give enough weight.
"Mr Abrahimzadeh seemed to do very little thinking and very little planning," Mr Apps said.
"If he wanted to kill her, why not walk up to her and kill her, one might think. He went there with a view to talk with his wife and then when she refused and over the evening, then he lost control."
Mr Apps said Abrahimzadeh's anger increased throughout the evening.
"He had been rejected by his wife, his daughter had conveyed that message (and) he's been insulted by other people," he said.
"He was a proud man and his pride was offended and over a period of four hours he has lost his self-control."
In his sentencing remarks earlier this year, Justice John Sulan rejected Abrahimzadeh's claim that, at the time of the stabbing, he was hallucinating about his youngest daughter, Anita, being attacked by "dark, ugly men".
"That was, in my view, fanciful ... I am satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, that your act was premeditated and deliberate," Justice Sulan said.
Prosecutor Jim Pearce, QC, told the court that Abrahimzadeh's actions were akin to "cold-blooded murder".
"He sat there for some hours keeping watch on the deceased and when she picked up to leave he made his move," he said.
"He made his move and it was a brutal and sudden move."
Mr Pearce said Abrahimzadeh arrived at the function with a knife that he intended to use to kill his estranged wife.
He told the court that in a letter to his family Abrahimzadeh said he believed he was a victim and asked: "do you think I deserve to suffer this much punishment because I married an Iranian woman?".
Mr Pearce said that dispelled any suggestion of contrition or remorse.
Chief Justice Chris Kourakis and Justices Malcolm Blue and Tim Stanley will deliver their decision on Friday.
