Rebecca Payne sentenced to 16 years’ jail for murdering abusive husband with poison biscuit

A mum who murdered her husband with a poison biscuit after more than a decade of abuse has been jailed, with the judge granting her a “very significant level of mercy”.

Rebecca Payne has been sentenced to 16 years’ jail for the murder of her husband. Picture: Aaron Francis

A mum who murdered her husband with a poison-laced biscuit – after he subjected her to “abhorrent” physical, sexual and emotional abuse for more than a decade – will have to spend at least seven more years behind bars.

Rebecca Payne, 43, was sentenced in the Supreme Court on Thursday to 16 years’ jail after a jury in March found her guilty of murdering her husband, Noel.

But in a show of “mercy”, Justice Rita Incerti set a non-parole period of 10 years, allowing Payne – who has already spent 1000 days in custody – to apply for parole in seven years.

The killer could be seen thanking one of her defence lawyers before leaving the courtroom with a small smile.

One of Payne’s sons, Jamie, told the Herald Sun he was “expecting the worse”, given the standard sentence for murder is 25 years’ imprisonment.

“I’m happy with her sentence but I still believe she shouldn’t be in prison because she spent 14 years in jail with him in that house,” he said.

“She lived in a house of horrors.”

But the 23-year-old said the sentence has allowed his family to “move on with their lives”.

“We’re relieved it’s all over,” he added.

Rebecca Payne has been hailed a hero for killing her abusive husband Noel Payne. Picture: Mark Scott

The court heard how on September 1, 2020, the mum crushed more than seven of her sleeping pills with a mortar and pestle, before lacing the icing of one biscuit with the powdered poison.

She then handed the deadly biscuit to her 68-year-old husband with a cup of Milo, before she wrapped his unconscious body in a blanket and stashed him in an empty chest freezer.

At trial, Payne detailed to the jury the shocking abuse she suffered inside the family home, located in the tiny town of Walpeup in the state’s northwest.

Despite this, she claimed she did not intend to kill him but send him to sleep, so she would not “cop any abuse” that September evening.

But the jury refused to find her guilty of manslaughter and convicted her of murder.

Wearing a black puffer jacket and a white shirt, Payne was visibly emotional from the dock as Justice Incerti described to the court the “degrading” and “insidious” abuse.

“Mr Payne exerted a high level of control over the minutiae of your everyday life,” she said.

“You were not allowed to speak to your family and friends.

“You were not allowed to shower alone, go for a walk or even check the mail by yourself.”

She said Mr Payne “exerted his power” over her body, which included forcing her to get 18 tattoos of his name so no one else could ever “love her”.

Mr Payne subjected his wife to more than a decade of ‘abhorrent’ abuse before she killed him with a poisoned biscuit. Picture: Facebook

Mr Payne in 2012, eight years before he was killed by his wife Rebecca Payne in September 2020. Picture: Facebook

But the abuse extended beyond coercive control.

Justice Incerti detailed one horrific assault where Mr Payne bashed his wife on a dirt road at the local graveyard, after an argument about finances.

“You were subjected to degrading verbal abuse most days,” she added.

“You were subjected to sexual coercive behaviour of various kinds.”

The court heard Payne would be punched, spat on and choked whenever she refused to have sex – and then raped.

Sexually graphic photos and videos tendered to the court – taken by Mr Payne without his wife’s consent – were so “depraved and distressing” that it was “difficult to capture the horror of such abuse with words”, the judge said.

“I consider you to be truthful in your account of ongoing, extreme and prolonged physical, sexual and emotional abuse and coercive control you were subjected to over many years by Mr Payne,” she added.

“You were trapped in an abusive, violent and cruel environment for over a decade.”

The court heard that Mr Payne also abused a younger woman with an acquired brain injury, who he moved into the house as his girlfriend in 2012, when Payne had sought refuge at a shelter.

The Walpeup pantry where Rebecca Payne crushed up her sleeping pills with a mortar and pestle and baked them into a biscuit.

Crown Prosecutor David Glynn had argued at the pre-sentence hearing that Payne had “options” and could have simply chosen to have left the abusive relationship instead, since she had done so twice previously.

Justice Incerti “rejected” his submission though, finding Payne had “no realistic option to leave” given court orders stopping her from taking their two children and the remoteness of the tiny town.

“One of the reasons you were unable to leave the violent relationship with Mr Payne was because you could not take your children with you,” she said.

“It is a sad irony that your incarceration means that that situation is now realised.”

However, she told the court that despite this, Payne was not entitled to kill her husband, citing the “sanctity of each and every human life”.

“As Mr Payne’s wife, you were in a position of trust,” she said.

“Mr Payne had no reason to suspect there was anything untoward with the biscuit.”

In a letter she personally penned to the judge, Payne conveyed that she was “deeply remorseful” for her actions.

“I will spend the rest of my days trying to make amends,” she wrote.

She said she has worked hard to leave prison a “better person” than when she arrived, with Justice Incerti noting she had “excellent prospects of rehabilitation”.

Rebecca Payne was found guilty of the murder of her husband Noel Payne by a Supreme Court jury. Picture: Supplied

Before handing down her sentence, the judge said this unique case “called out loudly” for mercy, noting that Payne’s claim for leniency was “compelling”.

“You were subjected to repeated acts of abuse, violence and humiliation at the hands of your husband,” she said.

“The fact that you murdered Mr Payne rather than flee can only be understood through the lens of the sustained family violence you had experienced.

“This was not an ordinary example of murder. This was not a dispassionate execution by a practised killer.

“I consider that you are entitled to be afforded a very significant level of mercy.”

The sentencing hearing comes one week after the Herald Sun revealed how the locals of Walpeup have hailed Payne a hero because they believe that by ending his life, she saved countless others, including her own.

Payne will be eligible for parole in 2030.