Rebecca Payne admits to killing husband Noel Payne in Walpeup

A Victorian woman killed her cheating husband by poisoning his biscuits before wrapping his body in a blanket and stashing him in a freezer.

Rebecca Payne is standing trial for murder in Mildura. Picture: Mark Stewart

A Victorian mum killed her cheating husband by poisoning the cookies she baked for him before stuffing his lifeless body in a chest freezer, a court has heard.

Rebecca Payne, 43, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Noel Payne, 68, at their home in the tiny town of Walpeup in the state’s northwest on September 1, 2020.

But on the first day of her Supreme Court trial on Tuesday, Payne admitted she killed her husband and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Her defence lawyer Richard Edney told the court his client denies she murdered Mr Payne, as she did not intend to kill him.

The jury heard Payne – who had a prescription for Temazepam to help her sleep – crushed up several tablets and then laced the icing of the biscuits and a cup of coffee with the drug, before handing them both to her husband.

The court heard Payne added crushed Temazepam to a cup of coffee before handing it to her husband.

After the man had become “incapacitated”, Crown Prosecutor David Glynn said Payne wrapped his body up in a blanket – tying both ends with duct tape – and then stashed him away in an empty freezer they had in their backyard.

Mr Glynn told the court the woman, who was a carer for her husband, attempted to leave their marriage on two occasions because he was “controlling” and “violent”.

“They did not have the world’s happiest marriage to say the least,” he said.

When Payne ran away with their two young sons in 2012, Mr Payne entered into a sexual relationship with another woman, who moved into the home.

But although the husband and wife reconciled soon after, the 32-year-old woman did not leave, with the man proceeding to pursue sexual relationships with both women.

In the months before his death, Mr Payne also kicked his 17-year-old stepson out of home.

While Payne pleaded guilty to manslaughter, Mr Glynn told the jury she should be found guilty of murder because she “wanted to be free” of her husband.

“She didn’t like his behaviour towards her. She didn’t like the situation with (the 32-year-old woman). She didn’t like what had happened to (her 17-year-old son),” he said.

Prosecutors allege in the days after she killed her partner, the accused murderer concocted a “cover story” and told people Mr Payne had abandoned the family and run off with a third woman.

She is also alleged to have used his credit cards to splurge thousands, buying a bird, fish and lizard – as well as new iPhones – for their young sons, aged 13 and 14.

Walpeup is a small Victorian town with a population of 170. Picture: Supplied

However, the 68-year-old’s body was found at a property on Cregan St in Walpeup three days later after Payne moved the freezer into a neighbour’s backyard, telling them it was “full of rotten meat” and she wanted to keep it away from her dogs.

Mr Glynn said medical experts were not certain whether he died from the drug overdose or suffocation, but he was found to have digested around seven tablets worth of Temazepam.

The defence lawyer told the jury it was not disputed the couple’s relationship was “deeply dysfunctional and problematic” with a “regimen of family violence”.

Payne “accepts” she provided him with the biscuits which led to his death, Mr Edney said.

“But when she gave him the biscuit, which led to him overdosing and passing away, what is critical … is the intention of Rebecca Payne at that time, when she hands the biscuit to Noel Payne,” he said.

“What we say is that at that particular time, she did not have an intention to kill … it was something lesser.”

Concluding his opening address, the defence lawyer told the jury once they have a chance to throughly examine all of the circumstances “the appropriate verdict in this case will be not guilty of murder”.

The trial before Justice Rita Incerti, which is expected to run for four weeks, continues.