Alexander Dow Freeburn, who beat disabled girlfriend to death, has sentence slashed in half
A man who brutally beat his intellectually disabled girlfriend and left her to die has had his sentence slashed in half, despite victim Elizabeth Wilms sustaining more than 40 injuries in the prolonged attack.
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A man who brutally beat his intellectually disabled girlfriend and left her to die has had his sentence slashed in half.
Alexander Dow Freeburn was initially sentenced to 25 years for the murder of Elizabeth Wilms, 29, in their Kew apartment in 2016.
But last month a Court of Appeal overturned his murder conviction and instead found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Freeburn’s murder charge was downgraded after an appeal found the 2018 trial jury could not have been satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he intended to kill or cause her really serious injury.
Freeburn was on Wednesday sentenced to a maximum 12 years behind bars with a non-parole period of nine years.
Wilms, 29, suffered more than 40 injuries during Freeburn’s prolonged attack and was found face down and naked on the couple’s bedroom floor after her parents had reported her missing.
Freeburn and Wilms had been dating less than two months after meeting on a dating site and just hours before her death she had told a friend she was “petrified” of him.
Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth, who originally sentenced Freeburn for murder in 2018, said he had shown jealously, anger and verbal aggression on several occasions when Wilms interacted with other men.
Wilms told friends and family he had pulled her hair and kicked her on various occasions.
Following the assault, Freeburn left a fatally injured Wilms and drove to another woman’s house.
He told the woman he had lost control and was worried about Wilms’ condition – but made no effort to help her.
Last month he told his re-sentencing he was “extremely remorseful and sorry for what happened to the victim and to the victim’s family”.
Freeburn will be eligible for parole in about six years with time served.
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