Melbourne man jailed for killing wife and daughter in ice-fuelled rage

A man who stabbed his wife and six-year-old daughter to death as his eldest daughter fled for her life has been sentenced for the “brutal and terrifying” murders.

The killer carried out the stabbings while in a drug-induced psychosis after using ice.

A father who was in an ice-induced psychosis when he fatally stabbed his wife and six-year-old daughter has been jailed for their “brutal” and “terrifying” murders.

The 41-year-old Melbourne man, who cannot be named to protect his surviving daughter’s identity, was sentenced on Tuesday to 27 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 19 years.

In handing down her sentence, Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said the man’s youngest daughter was particularly vulnerable as she had no way to defend herself or flee.

“Your actions were brutal and terrifying, to your victims and to those who observed them,” she said.

“There is no dispute that you committed these terrible acts because you were in a drug-induced psychosis, after using ice.”

The man first attacked his wife with a knife in the children’s playroom of their home.

While the injured mother and their eldest daughter fled to seek help from neighbours, the man stabbed his youngest daughter, aged six, inside her bedroom.

He then followed the older daughter outside, yelling “I need to kill you” while swinging the knife but he tripped on the footpath allowing her to escape.

The man turned his attention back to his wife, who was on a neighbour’s front porch, attacking her twice more over a 15 minute period.

When police arrived, the man was lying in his front yard while raising the knife towards his chest and saying: “Kill me.”

He stabbed himself twice in the chest but was subdued with OC spray and arrested before he could take his own life.

The mother died at the scene while the daughter was rushed to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

Justice Hollingworth said the man began using ice a few years prior as a way to deal with stress and began showing psychotic symptoms about nine months before the murders.

Despite displaying paranoid behaviour and believing he should take his own life, Justice Hollingworth said the man had never expressed violence towards others.

The man spent weeks in hospital recovering, later telling police he had not slept for a couple days in the lead up to the attack.

Police and paramedics had also attended the family home earlier in the day, but found he did not present a risk to himself or others.

Justice Hollingworth said the man, who pleaded guilty to two counts of murders, had shown remorse but not yet grasped the full enormity of his actions.

“The development of insight, and acceptance of full responsibility for your actions, will be an ongoing process for you,” she said.