Acts of evil: Domestic violence murderers spared life in jail for killing partners
They’re the brutal cases of deadly domestic violence that have shocked the state. But a Daily Telegraph investigation can reveal that out of more than 150 cases in NSW since 1991 there has never been a case where someone received a life sentence solely for killing their female partner.
THEY’RE the brutal cases of deadly domestic violence that have shocked the state.
But a Daily Telegraph investigation can reveal that out of more than 150 cases in NSW since 1991 there has never been a case where someone received a life sentence solely for killing their female partner.
And one of the reasons being given for sparing these cold-blooded killers incarceration until they die is that they’re unlikely to find another partner upon their release.
The situation has sparked calls for a rethink on jail terms from victims’ rights groups and grieving families and even the NSW Attorney-General requesting advice on what scope there is for sentencing reform on such cases.
It follows increasing concern about domestic violence murderers receiving more lenient sentences than killers who murder strangers with some being given as little as 13-year non-parole jail terms.
LIFE FOR A LIFE... HOMING ON EVIL KILLERS
CHILDREN FORCED TO WATCH THEIR MUM BURN
Facts: A 45-year-old refugee from Afghanistan, AKB killed his wife by setting their house on fire and locking her in the bedroom. His two sons then aged nine and six were forced to watch their mother die.
The woman, 32, could be heard screaming by neighbours. Locked in the room, she rang triple-0 and begged them to call the police. The Crown argued that in the recording of the call she could also be heard saying “you’re killing me”.
Her nine-year-old son had tried desperately to save him mum and said at one point he was knocked near the fire after his father pushed her back into the bedroom.
The court found AKB made no effort to rescue his sons until his wife’s screaming stopped and she was no longer able to escape the burning room.
A psychiatrist who assessed AKB said that he does not show remorse for what he did.
Date: Murder occurred October 2016. Sentenced November, 2018.
Sentence: Non-parole period of 27 years. Justice David Davies said life couldn’t be given because there wasn’t a need to give “significant weight to community protection” and female partner killings had not attracted life sentences in the past.
“This was a very bad murder, but the limited planning, the absence of the need to give significant weight to community protection, and the fact that a lengthy sentence will meet the need for specific deterrence, mean that the community interest in retribution, punishment, community protection and deterrence can be met by other than the imposition of a life sentence.
“Apart from a consideration of those matters, I would not have held that this murder fell into the worst case category of murder,” Justice Davies said.
Justice Davies also argued AKB was unlikely to find another wife when freed.
“The notion of the offender finding another wife on his release and treating her in a similar way is fanciful,” Justice Davies said.
JEALOUS HUSBAND STABBED WIFE MORE THAN 60 TIMES
Case: A 44-year-old refugee from Iran, Amir Darbanou killed his wife Nasrin Abek by stabbing her more than 60 times at their Potts Point apartment with a large kitchen knife. Abek’s body was found with severe injuries to her chest, face and upper limbs. Not long before the murder Ms Abek had told her GP that her husband had hit her in the face many times. A hair dresser at a salon, Ms Nabek also told colleagues that her husband “followed her everywhere” and wouldn’t allow her a divorce.
She had told them she was terrified he would kill her one day.
About three weeks prior to her murder, Ms Abek told a friend that she and Darbanou had fought and that he had tried to suffocate her by putting his hands around her neck. She defended herself but he would not let her leave and he put a mattress against the door and laid against it all night to trap her in the room.
One of the worst wounds on Ms Abek’s dead body included a deep 20cm gash which ran from her nose through the tongue and the floor of the mouth and into the right side of the neck. There were at least 17 defensive wounds to Ms Abek’s hands.
Date: Murder occurred September 2016.
Sentenced November, 2018.
Sentence: Non-parole period of 15 years, nine months. Sentence took into consideration Darbanou’s depression and alcohol dependence. As well as the fact he would be incarcerated “far away from his family”.
“The offender was treated for depression after his arrest and he continues on antidepressant and antipsychotic medication. Dr Furst diagnosed the offender with a current adjustment disorder with depressed mood, substance use disorder, alcohol dependence and a possible delusional disorder jealous type. These matters, and the incarceration far from his family are factors that I take into account in determining the appropriate sentence,” said Justice Julia Lonergan.
MAN WHO KILLED WIFE WITH SCISSORS ‘NOT WORSE CASE CATEGORY’
Facts: An Iranian refugee, Mokhtar Hosseiniamraei stabbed his estranged 26-year-old wife Leila Alavi to death in her work carpark because she “broke the contract” of their marriage by leaving him.
Ms Alavi had moved out the home she shared with her husband in Toongabbie after he was physically violent towards her. Ms Alavi reported to police that Hosseiniamraei had had made threatening phone calls to her including one where he said “You’re a slut, I’m going to kill you and I’m going to fix up your sister and friends who have been teaching you this”.
When Ms Alavi was murdered by Hosseiniamraei she had an ADVO out against him.
Hosseiniamraei had turned up her workplace and attacked her with scissors. Her body was found in her car surrounded by a pool of blood. An autopsy report found she had 56 wounds on her face, the front and back of her neck and a high number over the front of her chest. Defensive injuries on her hands revealed she had tried to fight him off.
When asked by police why he murdered his wife Hosseiniamraei said “[I stabbed her] in her heart, and in her neck, because she did not obey the rule of marriage”
Date: Murder occurred January 2015. Sentencing took place August 2016.
Sentence: 15 years, nine months non-parole with the judge saying Hosseiniamraei had “reasonable” prospects of rehabilitation, despite still “ blaming” Ms Alavi for his evil actions.
JODIE’S DEATH WAS A ‘TERRIBLE, UNENDING FACT OF LIFE’
When a triple zero operator asked Robert Bretherton if he knew who his girlfriend’s killer was, he replied, “Yeah, me”.
Two years later, Bretherton, 38, month found guilty of murdering Jodie Jurd by stabbing her a dozen times in their Hunter Valley home in November 2011.
Sentencing him to at least 15 years and nine months’ jail, Justice Ian Harrison said at Newcastle’s Supreme Court on Thursday that it might never be known what led to the violent attack.
The two-week trial heard Bretherton was “obsessed” with and intensely jealous of Ms Jurd’s close relationship with her family and that he used to take the SIM card out of her phone and prevent her from visiting them.
After a decade of splitting up and reconciling, their relationship had once again deteriorated in November 2011 when, during an argument about finances, Bretherton stabbed Ms Jurd 12 times in the back, torso and cheek with a kitchen knife.
A neighbour who heard Ms Jurd “screaming hysterically” immediately called triple zero, as did Bretherton.
When police arrived, they found Ms Jurd lying in a pool of blood, with Bretherton kneeling over her.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter but this was not accepted by the Crown.
Handing down a maximum 21-year sentence, Justice Harrison found Bretherton was substantially impaired at the time of the murder as a result of his depression and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
“It is difficult, if not impossible, to know precisely or even generally what it was that precipitated (Bretherton’s) violent and fatal attack upon (Ms Jurd),” Justice Harrison said, adding it most likely would not have happened but for Bretherton’s mental condition.
Although Bretherton had accepted responsibility for his actions, the judge could not be satisfied that he had shown any remorse at all.
He extended his condolences to the Ms Jurd’s family, to whom her death was “a terrible and unending fact of life”.
Taking into account time already served, Bretherton will be eligible for parole in August 2027.
Date: November 2011
Sentence: 15 years and nine months’ jail
MAN WHO BASHED PARTNER TO DEATH ‘HAS SOUND PROSPECTS OF REHAB’
Facts: Luke Robert Birch beat his partner Carol Penrith to death after accusing her of hiding his key card in a drunken fit of rage. Despite the fact Ms Penrith’s dead body was found with 10 broken ribs — one of which had pierced her heart — the judge said Birch had not shown “gratuitous cruelty”. The couple had been in a relationship for three years during which time Birch had been physically abusive, but no convictions against him had previously been laid. He was often violent when he believed that Ms Penrith had hidden or taken money from him, sometimes as little as $5 that he had wanted to use to gamble or drink. Ms Penrith’s body was found with 10 broken ribs and bleeding into the small bowel mesentery as a result of blows to the stomach. Other injuries showed multiple blows had been inflicted.
Sentence: 13 years non-parole after the judge said Birch was “full of remorse” and had “sound prospects of rehabilitation”.
“The injuries that were sustained by the deceased were significant. There was a significant degree of violence exhibited. That is disturbing. Nevertheless I do not consider that Mr Birch intended to kill the deceased or wanted her to die even at the height of the attack,” said Justice Stephen Rothman when sentencing.
Date: Murder occurred December 2014.
Sentenced: June 16
JUDGE LENIENT AS KILLER HAD PTSD FROM PREVIOUS TIME IN JAIL
Facts: A 37-year-old with links to the Bali Nine, Khanh Thanh Ly murdered his ex-girlfriend and aspiring pastry chef Miming Listiyani in 2016. He bashed her face into the concrete and her spine was broken in three places.
Ly had been harassing Ms Listiyani in the lead up to her death and sent emails outlining violent sexual fantasies.
Her body was found naked and badly beaten near Parramatta river. There were also ligature marks around her neck consistent with strangulation.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Listiyani’s father Sem Eu wished his life had been taken instead.
“It was my wife and I who held her little body in our arms when she came into this world, and after she passed away it was also my wife and I who held her ashes in our hands to take them back to Indonesia,” he said.
Date: Murder occurred April 2016. Sentenced February, 2018.
Sentence: Ly was sentenced to 18 years jail with 13-year non-parole period.
Acting Justice Jane Mathews told the family they would find the sentence “inadequate” but said she took into account Ly’s PTSD which he had developed as a result of previous time he spent in a Queensland jail for conspiracy to import heroin.
:”You will no doubt think the sentence I am about to impose is completely inadequate, given the extent of your loss,” she said.
“Given that his PTSD was caused by his incarceration in Queensland, his imprisonment in relation to this offence is likely to be particularly onerous for him..... prison will be extremely traumatic for the offender, and he will be a vulnerable prisoner.”
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