The gruesome injuries Sandra Peniamina sustained before her death have been revealed in court

A mother allegedly stabbed multiple times in the face and head before being beaten to death ‘provoked’ her husband, who has pleaded not guilty to her murder. WARNING: CONFRONTING DETAILS

A Moreton Bay region mother-of-four fled, bleeding, from her home after allegedly being punched and repeatedly stabbed in the face with a knife by her husband before he allegedly chased her down and killed her with a concrete bollard, prosecutors allege.

Arona Peniamina, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Sandra Peniamina during an altercation at their Kippa-Ring home near Redcliffe in March 2016.

On the first day of his murder trial on Tuesday, the Brisbane Supreme Court heard Peniamina would dispute the charge under the defence of provocation, claiming he lost self-control before killing his wife.

Crown prosecutor Dzenita Balic told the jury members they would hear evidence that the couple had argued in a bedroom of their home on the night of March 31 over claims she had been unfaithful.

Sandra Peniamina died after sustaining multiple injuries. Her husband is on trial for her murder.

Ms Balic said the court would hear evidence that Mrs Peniamina had recently returned from a trip to New Zealand with her sons and that Peniamina had raised concerns about a photograph of his wife with another man who he had spoken to in an “unpleasant” phone conversation on the night of the killing.

Ms Balic said it was alleged Peniamina punched his wife during the dispute and she went to the kitchen where she armed herself with a knife which her husband took from her.

“He (the accused) will say that he grabbed, most likely the blade of that knife but it’s a matter for your interpretation, …and that he was then cut by the knife,” Ms Balic said.

“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.

“You’ll hear him say he stabbed her about five or six times to the body.”

Ms Balic said police officers later found a bent knife on the floor of the kitchen along with one of Mrs Peniamina’s teeth and one of her pearl earrings.

Ms Balic said the mother was found with 29 knife wounds but that a doctor was expected to give evidence the cause of her death was from head injuries after being bashed in the head with a concrete bollard.

She said the jury would hear evidence the majority of the 29 wounds were inflicted with at least moderate force and some with severe force and that a piece of a knife was found lodged in the mother’s skull.

Arona Peniamina is on trail for the stabbing murder of his wife Sandra Peniamina.

Ms Balic said 15 of the knife wounds were to Mrs Peniamina’s head.

“Fourteen of those 15 had penetrated bone structures, I told you about that one piece of the knife being embedded in the skull, two further ones had bone penetrations which were on her forehead and there was a further one on the back of her head,” she said.

“The tooth you will hear from (a doctor) located on the floor is consistent with a significant stabbing injury to her mouth and that (tooth) in fact had come from her upper right jaw.

“So one particular wound to her face … went along the middle of the nose and extended beyond the mouth as it was inflicted was consistently with a knife it exposed her nasal septum, so that bony part inside the nose, and it would have affected her breathing and to a lesser extent her movement….”

Defence barrister Timothy Ryan said Peniamina had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder. Prosecutors have not accepted his manslaughter plea.

Mr Ryan said the jury would hear evidence throughout the trial about what sparked the incident between the couple including conversations with others.

“It was during these conversations with police officers at the house, in an ambulance, at the hospital and later in a conversation he had at the watch house that the defendant explained what caused him to react in such a violent way,” Mr Ryan said.

“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.”

The trial continues.