Family begs for mercy for Victorian mum who killed husband with poisoned cookies
The twisted acts that led to a Victorian woman murdering her husband with a poisoned snack have been pored over in court. WARNING: Disturbing.
In a sleepy Victorian regional town, Rebecca Payne was living a nightmare.
She was raped, spat on, bashed repeatedly and forced to have her abusive husband’s name tattooed on her body 18 times.
Her daughter, who has an acquired brain injury, was also tattooed with the Noel Payne’s name in acts a Victorian court this week heard were “reprehensible and obscene”.
The way out for the stay-at-home mum was equally twisted.
She knew her husband loved her home-made biscuits so she whipped up a batch.
On September 1, 2020, Rebecca made lemon biscuits and laced the icing with temazepam pills she had crushed with a mortar and pestle.
She served them up to her husband with a cup of Milo. When he went to sleep, he never woke up.
Rebecca admitted that when she found her husband with no pulse she didn’t try to resuscitate him and she didn’t call triple-0 either.
She claimed she panicked and quickly wrapped the body in a blanket before tying each end with duct tape, dumping him in a chest freezer and strapping the freezer door closed.
A few days later Rebecca dragged the freezer to a neighbour’s backyard.
Shortly after, a resident wrenched the lid open, called police and Rebecca was arrested.
It was a crime that could send her to prison for life. But it is anything from black and white.
In the outback town of Walpeup in northwestern Victoria, people say she is a “hero” who did what she needed to do to survive.
Her lawyers say she deserves mercy but prosecutors argue she should have simply left.
Defence barrister Richard Edney told a plea hearing at the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday that what Rebecca went through directly led to the 68-year-old’s murder.
“So we understand the scope of what we’re dealing with here, we have the threats, we have the physical violence, we have the sexual violence, we have the financial control, we have the coercive control, we heard evidence of his repeatedly spitting at Rebecca Payne, watching her in the shower,” Mr Edney said.
“We heard the evidence of her being taken to a graveyard near the family home and bashed.
“There’s also evidence and we’ve heard from (Rebecca’s daughter) about the tattoos that Noel Payne had both Rebecca and (her daughter) put on their bodies.
“Rebecca had in fact 18 tattoos of this man’s name on all parts of her body. The conduct against both Rebecca and (her daughter) was reprehensible and obscene.”
He said Rebecca lived a “desperate life” for “many many years, bringing up his two young boys as best she could”.
“(The relationship) had all those features which unfortunately — sorry — are attached to women in abusive domestic violence situations.”
But prosecutor David Glynn said a jury was right to find Rebecca guilty of murder and she should face a sentence that takes into account the level of “planning” she put in to her husband’s death.
“This was not a woman who was helpless and unable to act,” he said.
“She acted, and what she did required a significant level of planning, thought and above all, I would suggest, determination.
“It must have been ghastly to do what she did to him ... someone who isn’t a psychopath — not that I’m suggesting she is one — would recoil.”
One of Noel’s daughters told A Current Affair that she was “absolutely devastated” at what had occurred.
“She robbed me of my father, not being able to say goodbye to him,” she said.
The pair met as neighbours — Rebecca lived next door to Noel’s daughter in Gorokan, NSW.
They hit it off and they quickly married before setting up a new life together in country Victoria where they shared wholesome holidays with friends.
But neighbours said the relationship was marked with violence and allegations that Noel beat his wife. Family friend Barry told A Current Affair he saw “bruises on her arm and … chest” too.
“I believe he used to punch her,” Barry said.
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In court, prosecutors alleged Rebecca wanted to get out of her marriage — that she was upset about another woman Noel had living in their home with them, and had also had enough of being beaten.
The court heard that Rebecca had dreamt of drugging her husband for months and while testifying, she told the jury she just expected him to just “feel sleepy and go to bed” the night she finally enacted her plan.
Rebecca will be sentenced at a later date.