‘Brutal, prolonged, vicious, and appalling’: Stephen Boyd jailed for 33 years

A NSW man has been jailed for 33 years for a sickening murder of his partner. Afterwards their son had a message for all Australians.

A MAN who killed his partner in an alcohol-fuelled rage, battering her with a baseball bat and stabbing her with three knives, has been jailed for up to 33 years.

Stephen Boyd, 53, killed Tina Kontozis in an attack so ferocious at their Bundeena home on April 24, 2015 that DNA was needed to identify her body.

Boyd will have to serve a minimum non-parole period of 25 years and six months for the brutal murder of Ms Kontozis, 51, the baseball bat attack on their son Daniel Boyd, and driving dangerously during a police chase.

He was on an apprehended violence order at the time of the murder.

Outside court Daniel, now 19, said he was happy with the sentence, telling reporters “justice has been served”.

“Today sees the end of a very long and emotional journey for me and my family,” he said.

He then addressed domestic violence that was ruining so many Australian lives.

“Domestic violence must not be tolerated at any level and we must, as a community, do everything we can to stop it.”

His mother’s blood was found on the floor and up the walls of the Bundeena home, in Sydney’s south. One knife, with a 20.5cm blade, was found under her body, while the other two were located in a kitchen drawer and a rubbish bin.

Daniel Boyd, the son of slain Bundeena child care worker Tina Kontozis, told media domestic violence needed to be wiped out.

When Justice Julia Lonergan outlined the “brutal, prolonged, vicious and appalling attack on Tina”, Daniel and a family member left his father’s sentencing at the NSW Supreme Court. They returned a short time later to hear the sentence be delivered.

Ms Kontozis had a skull fracture that resulted in a major head injury, fractures to the base of the skull and face.

“There were numerous stab wounds involving the face and both sides of the neck ... Some of these were very deep, 10-12cm,” Justice Lonergan told a packed courtroom.

She had wounds to her hands which indicated a desperate fight for survival. One of the tips of her fingers was missing.

On the day of the murder Boyd had been drinking heavily at Ms Kontozis’ home with a friend. The trigger for the “senseless” violence was when she spoke to him about damage he’d caused to the property.

“This was an offence of very substantial gravity committed by the offender, involving extensive violence, and he was the long term partner of Tina Kontozis, and it was committed in her home.”

Tina Kontozis and her son Daniel.

Family members smiled when they heard the sentence and Boyd leaned back in the dock and slumped over slightly.

Despite his guilty plea — made just days before his trial was due to start — Justice Lonergan said he had shown little remorse and had little prospects of rehabilitation.

A letter he wrote after the murder was a “despicable attempt” to try and shift blame from his own actions, Justice Lonergan said.

Boyd wrote the letter soon after he was arrested in the days following the murder.

“I believe the police should not have been called and should not have got involved in our family arguments.”

After he was taken into custody he told officers: “I’m not denying I did what I did ... she badgered me all day ... I just lost it.”

The Crown had urged her to impose a life sentence for the killing. The judge said she was clear that there was “significant force inflicted on the deceased and she was defenceless”.

Boyd showed the “presence of mind” to lock the door and try and keep Daniel outside — who “bravely was trying to get inside” — while he carried out the murder. He showed how “calculating” he was by cleaning her blood from his body and clothes.

She declined to jail him for life however, but noted it was an extreme act of violence that was evident through its “ferocity” and the fact it went on for at least half an hour.

She said it was evident from reading and listening to the victim impact statements how special and loved Tina was.

It was clear from hearing from Daniel and other family members, and the large number of supporters at the sentencing, how deeply her death had been felt. “This was the impact of this senseless, brutal and appalling murder on the family of Tina,” she said.

Justice Lonergan referenced the scourge of domestic violence in Australia, telling the court it was “sadly rare for a woman not to be murdered by her partner” on a weekly basis.

“This is something we as community must be ashamed of.”

Stephen Boyd pictured before court in 2017. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

‘WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?’

When Daniel Boyd returned to the Bundeena home from a friend’s house on the day of the murder he saw his father’s hands were covered in blood. “What have you done?” he screamed, as he ran to find his mum.

In the rear living area, he saw her lying on her side, covered in blood. There was also blood on the walls and floor. Two broken pieces of wood and three bloodstained knives were found in the home. One knife, with a 20.5cm blade, was found under Ms Kontozis’s body, another in a kitchen drawer and the third was located in a kitchen bin.

When he looked up he could see his father running towards him with a bat in his hand. He was struck in the back of the head with such force it left him unconscious.

Crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC said the attack likely lasted more than 30 minutes. Neighbours called 000 when they heard swearing and screaming, followed by loud thumps, some of which were so strong a painting on a neighbouring unit wall fell down.

Daniel Boyd and family members outside the NSW Supreme Court. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

‘HOW BRUTAL, WAS HER MURDER’?

At a sentencing hearing in December her brother James Kontozis told of being haunted by his sister’s death.

“I thought, ‘How brutal was her murder?’ I couldn’t imagine the terror and trauma Tina suffered in her final moments.”

He said she would have suffered “horribly”.

“I insisted on seeing her and was told not to touch her or hug her because her body was so fragile.”

He was given her rings back and could see the damage that had been done.

“…when I was given the rings she was wearing and saw the deformed state they were in, I came to the realisation that she would have suffered horribly.”

Ms Kontozis had confided in him before her death of her fears for both herself and Daniel.

“She revealed to me the fear she had for herself and for Daniel and of not being able to escape the violent toxic environment because of the threats and intimidation that was regularly inflicted on them by this unremorseful perpetrator and which was nothing short of torture.”

‘EVIL NARCISSIST’

Daniel Boyd told his father he was an “evil narcissist” who was a controlling figure he’d been scared of since he was a small boy.

“It was always mum and I — he was never a role model as a father. In my eyes, he is and always will be an evil narcissist,” the 19-year-old said as he read a victim impact statement at the last court appearance.

He feared going to bed at night for fear of the nightmares and was anxious the doors were always locked. The only relief he felt was that his mother, who spent years living in fear of her former partner, was now free.

“You may have taken my mother away from me forever but you cannot take my memories,” he said.

He would always remember the things she loved to do. “My mum loved to dance, she loved the beach and she loved to laugh,” he told the court.

“It was hard accepting the traumatic loss of my mum. My life fell apart and my heart broke.”

Mr Boyd was also injured in the attack and said his doctors wouldn’t let him leave hospital because the “fear and stress” was so great. “I couldn’t comprehend what happened to her.”

Tina Kontozis was killed in her Bundeena home in April 2016. Picture: Facebook

KILLER’S LETTER

Boyd sent a letter to his son, the brothers of Ms Kontozis and “our families” less than a month after the murder.

He told them it was the hardest letter he’d had to write, but he wanted to “try and explain why things have turned out this way”.

“You know the last 18 months of Tina, Daniel and my relationship was starting to strain and the arguments were getting worse and more often between the three of us,” he wrote in the handwritten block letters.

Then came the extraordinary moment when he blamed police for the breakdown that led to the murder.

“To this day I still believe the police should not have been called and should not have got involved in our family arguments,” he wrote, referring to an apprehended violence order imposed by the court after he was convicted of assaulting Ms Kontozis and his son.

“All it did was make things worse because the police overreact and exaggerate the facts and charges, resulting in an AVO then a breach of AVO and a good behaviour bond, all with court appearances, court costs and fines.”

“Police should not have carried on with it, resulting in restrictions and more pressure on me which I believe contributed to my emotional breakdown that terrible day.”

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence, call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)