He stabbed wife 29 times, bashed her skull in, but jury finds ‘not guilty’ of murder

Arona Peniamina stabbed his wife 29 times, including 15 in the head, then chased her down the driveway when she tried to escape and bashed her skull in. But a jury could not find him guilty of her murder.

Victim Sandra Peniamina.

Arona Peniamina has been found not guilty of the murder of his wife Sandra who he repeatedly stabbed before chasing her down and beating her to death in their driveway when she tried to escape.

After three days of deliberations, a Brisbane Supreme Court jury informed the court it could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charge of murder.

The jury found father-of-four Peniamina guilty of the manslaughter of Sandra whom he killed at their home at Kippa-Ring north of Brisbane in 2016.

Arona Peniaminahas been found not guilty of the murder of his wife Sandra who he repeatedly stabbed before chasing her down and beating her to death in their driveway when she tried to escape.

The guilty verdict on the manslaughter charge was also not unanimous with Justice Peter Davis forced to take a majority verdict of 11 of the 12 jurors.

Peniamina wept as the verdict was delivered and hugged the Samoan language translator who was with him in the dock.

At the start of his trial last week, Peniamina pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter, disputing the charge under the defence of provocation.

Peniamina was first found guilty of Sandra’s murder in 2018 but a retrial was ordered in December last year after a High Court majority found the trial judge had wrongly instructed the jury about how it should consider if the defence of provocation applied to his case.

The partial defence of provocation considers whether an act or insult could deprive an ordinary person of self-control and in such cases, they would be convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.

Sandra Peniamina suffered stab wounds to her chest, arms and neck before the fatal beating.

Throughout the trial, the court heard on March 31, 2016, the couple had been arguing in a bedroom of their home over claims the mother had been unfaithful.

Peniamina punched Sandra during the dispute and she went to the kitchen where she armed herself with a knife which he took from her, cutting his hand in the process.

“He used that knife to repeatedly stab her he will say first to the back, perhaps the back of the head, and then perhaps other areas of the body as well,” Crown Prosecutor Dzenita Balic told the court.

Peniamina used the knife to stab his wife 29 times including 15 times to the head, slicing open her nasal septum, knocking out a tooth and leaving the tip of the blade snapped off in her skull.

When the terrified mother fled bleeding from their home, Peniamina chased her down and used a concrete garden bollard to bash in her skull in the driveway of their suburban street.

“The defence case will be that as a result of provocation he lost self-control and having lost self-control, formed the intention to kill his wife and did so whilst in that state,” defence barrister Timothy Ryan said at the start of the trial.

Peniamina will be sentenced for manslaughter later next month