Christian Bain-Smith sentenced to 22 years’ jail after killing Rani Featherston
A BUTCHER and knife fanatic who stabbed a Melbourne woman to death in an unprovoked attack will spend at least the next 22 years in prison.
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A BUTCHER and knife fanatic who stabbed a woman to death in an unprovoked attack will spend at least the next 22 years in prison.
Rani Featherston’s April 2014 murder remained an unsolved mystery for more than two years before Christian Bain-Singh confessed to the bloody killing.
He said he did so after returning to the church and finding God.
Following an altercation during a chance street encounter Bain-Singh, who was armed with a hunting knife, stabbed Ms Featherston in the back.
She tried to run away but he chased her down and stabbed her another 19 times. After she went to the ground, the callous killer stabbed Ms Featherston one more time in the throat.
Before leaving the bloodied scene Bain-Singh posted a message on Facebook that read: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
“I guess looking at it now, it’s like a, bragging, it’s like victory, it’s like saying ‘I gotcha’,” he later told police when quizzed about the post.
Bain-Singh knew Ms Featherston, but not well. They lived near each other and had previously argued.
Bain-Singh claimed on one occasion Ms Featherston became abusive when he refused to give her a cigarette.
On the day he murdered her Bain-Singh said Ms Featherston had threatened him and called him a “dog”.
Justice Christopher Beale found it was likely that Ms Featherston had abused Bain-Singh.
“Whether she threatened you or not, she was unarmed and you should have just walked away,” he said.
Following the murder Bain-Singh, 24, became a heavy ice user and told several people about the crime.
Justice Beale said the killer started getting his life back together after he started going to church, something he had done as a teen.
When he was arrested by police in June last year he initially denied any involvement in the murder.
But he confessed after a detective told him that if he was serious about his Christianity, and wanted forgiveness from God he had to be genuinely sorry.
“One way of doing that is to admit to your sins or your mistakes and take the consequences and then you can get forgiveness and your soul can rest easy,” she told him.
Bain-Singh confessed to the killing, and a violent aggravated burglary 11 days earlier, almost instantly.
During that incident he broke into a man’s home at night and savagely stabbed him when he woke up.
Imposing a maximum sentence of 29 years imprisonment Justice Beale said Bain-Singh’s offences were shocking but he had shown remorse and had good rehabilitation prospects.