Michelle Darragh’s parents Dianne and Ashley Darragh stare down Benjamin Coman in court

The parents of a pregnant Melbourne woman murdered by her ex have stared down their daughter’s killer in court in an emotionally charged address.

Mother of two Michelle Darragh was killed by her ex-partner Benjamin Coman. Picture: Facebook

The parents of a “beautiful” pregnant mother killed by her evil cheating ex have faced off with him in court, calling him a “monster” and “cold-blooded murderer”.

Dianne and Ashley Darragh stared down Benjamin Coman as he sat with his eyes closed in the Supreme Court dock on Monday for a pre-sentencing hearing over the murder of their 32-year-old daughter, Michelle.

“Look at me,” Mrs Darragh yelled at her former son-in-law and father of her two orphaned grandchildren as she fought back tears and stood up to face Coman.

“I will make sure your boys know that you are a cold-blooded murderer, and I will make sure that they will hate you forever for depriving them of a life without their loving mother and their little brother or sister.”

Benjamin Coman has been described as a ‘monster’. Picture: Facebook

Ms Darragh, who was 12 weeks pregnant, was bashed and stabbed to death when she went to the Bayswater North home she once shared with Coman and their two sons to pick up her belongings on October 9, 2021.

Coman, 31, has pleaded guilty to murder.

The couple had been in an on-and-off tumultuous relationship, with Ms Darragh fed up with Coman’s increasing drug use.

The cabinet-maker also cheated on her at brothels while she was pregnant with their two boys, and used their $100,000 savings, pencilled for a house deposit, to buy a supercharged Holden Commodore for $82,000 without her knowledge.

On learning she was pregnant again, he wanted her to get an abortion and gave her an ultimatum: it would be the baby or him. She moved out with her sons, then three and 18 months, into her parents The Basin house.

It was Mr Darragh who found his daughter’s bloodied and lifeless body at Coman’s home — a memory he told the court he could not erase.

Michelle Darragh was 12 weeks pregnant when she was bashed and stabbed to death. Picture: Facebook

He went to the house after he and his wife became increasingly concerned when their daughter had not returned and was not answering her phone.

Mr Darragh said his “heart wrenched out from me” and he knew she was dead the moment he saw her laying on the bedroom floor.

“My life was ripped apart,” he said.

In a call to his wife, as emergency services rushed to the property, he said five words: “Hun, it’s our worst nightmare.”

Mr Darragh said it was hard to comprehend how their beautiful daughter had been “left in such a way by that monster”.

“I don’t know how anyone could do this to such a beautiful soul,” he said.

Mr Darragh believed Coman, who was laying beside his daughter with a knife nearby, was also dead.

“If I knew he was still alive, I know I wouldn’t have been able to control myself,” he said.

In a direct message to Coman, he told him that he should have just walked away, instead of ruining so many lives with his “utterly brutal selfish act”.

“I hope the rest of your time on this Earth is a living hell,” Mr Darragh said.

The hearing came to an abrupt end after an ambulance was called when a distraught Mrs Darragh fell down a step in the courtroom after reading out her victim impact statement.

The case is expected to resume before Justice Andrew Tinney on Tuesday.