‘You suppressed her screams’: Man who stabbed pregnant partner sentenced to 25 years behind bars

Benjamin Coman cheated on his partner at brothels while she was pregnant with their sons before he fatally stabbed her as she tried to leave him, the court heard.

An evil cheating father who stabbed his pregnant partner to death as she packed her belongings to leave him will spend at least 20 years behind bars for the “vicious” crime.

Supreme Court judge Andrew Tinney sentenced Benjamin Coman to 25 years jail with the non-parole period of two decades, on Friday after he pleaded guilty to murdering Michelle Darragh at his Bayswater North home on October 9, 2021.

Ms Darragh, 32, was 12 weeks pregnant with her third child to Coman when she was stabbed in the back while packing up her belongings at their home.

Coman, 31, who turned the knife on himself and took pills after the brutal killing, described his actions as “one minute of madness”.

Justice Tinney said Coman fits the “angry, jealous and bitter man” who lashes out after learning their partner is leaving that the courts too often hear of.

Family and friends of Michelle Darragh arrive for the sentence of Benjamin Coman. Picture: Aaron Francis

“You made the conscious decision to attack her and cause her harm with the knife,” Justice Tinney said.

“Your crime was carried out for reasons of anger and resentment.

“She was vulnerable and defenceless. She screamed out for help. You suppressed her screams.”

Justice Tinney said the couple had been in a “tumultuous” relationship since 2015, with Ms Darragh finally deciding to leave him a month before she was killed.

“It’s obvious she did everything in her power to make the relationship work,” Justice Tinney said.

He said Ms Darragh was concerned about Coman’s increasing drug use, and the fact he had admitted cheating on her at brothels while she was pregnant with their sons.

She was also not happy about his “reckless spending of joint savings”, Justice Tinney said, including using a large portion of $100,000 they had saved for a home on a supercharged Holden Commodore.

On learning she was pregnant again, Coman gave her an ultimatum: it would be him or the baby.

On September 10, she took their two sons, then three and 18 months, to live with her parents.

In the days that followed, he tried to take his own life, and it was Ms Darragh who found him and saved him.

He was taken to hospital and released on September 16.

Justice Tinney described the chilling account of Ms Darragh and Coman as a “very serious instance of the crime of murder”. Picture: Facebook

Three weeks later he killed Ms Darragh, claiming voices in his head told him to “do it”.

But Justice Tinney found Coman knew all too well that what he was doing was wrong.

Her harrowing last moments were earlier aired in court including how she tried to fight him off before he stabbed her in the back.

Coman gave the chilling account of their clash after being arrested over her death.

Justice Tinney said it was a “very serious instance of the crime of murder”, with Ms Darragh’s spine being severed, which would have killed her almost instantly.

He said the crime was even more serious because Coman was in a “position of trust” as Ms Darragh was his former partner and the mother of his children.

Speaking outside of court and surrounded by supporters, Ms Darragh’s father Ashley said his daughter’s killer was handed a “just sentence”.

“No period of time is long enough for what he did to her ... but it’s a very just sentence,” he said.

“We’re all very happy with (the sentence).”

Her grief-stricken mother Dianne said no human had the right to do what Coman did.

“I’m happy the judge saw that he blatantly killed her and I’m happy for the world to see that,” she said, talking through tears.

She added that their daughter loved her family and “adored her little boys”.

“Ashley and I will raise (them) in the way she wanted them to be raised,” she said.

“The one thing she always said: “I want my boys to respect women a lot more than their father did’.”

More than 20 of Ms Darragh’s loved ones wore an orange ribbon to court on Friday to honour their “bright” girl.

Dianne confronted Coman as he sat in the dock at a February hearing, telling him: “I will make sure your boys know that you are a cold-blooded murderer.”

“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,” she said.