Former businesswoman Katie Anne Castel pleads guilty to manslaughter of husband Jarred Castel

A Brisbane businesswoman has been sentenced for killing her property consultant husband after he returned home late from work. The court heard the wife used “extreme violence, out of all proportion to the mundane argument” the couple was having infront of their young son.

Katie Anne Castel has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her husband. Picture: Channel 9

A BRISBANE businesswoman has been sentenced for killing her property consultant husband after he returned home late from work.

Katie Anne Castel has been sentenced to nine years’ jail for the manslaughter of her husband Jarred Castel in December 2017.

During sentencing, Justice Dalton said Castel had used “extreme violence, out of all proportion to the mundane argument you were having” when she threw a 20cm knife at her husband because she was angry he arrived home late from work at 8pm.

Castel, 38, had today pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to the domestic violence offence of manslaughter of her husband Jarred Castel, at their Chapel Hill home, days before Christmas 2017.

Castel was originally charged with murder but today pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge of manslaughter in a domestic violence context.

Katie Anne Castel in a photo posted on Instagram to promote her company Adverbium Design that has since been shut down.

Jarred Castel was stabbed to death in 2017.

The court heard Castel, who was the owner of the fashion business Adverbium Design at the time of being charged, had begun arguing with her husband after he returned home from work two hours later than expected.

Castel first threw a computer at her husband during the fight, before grazing her wrists with a knife, the court heard.

The court heard the argument escalated before she threw the knife at her husband, while their four-year-old son looked on.

Her husband had been standing about two metres away, bare chested.

The knife lodged about 4cm into his chest between his ribs, hitting him in the heart.

Jarred Castel died shortly after being stabbed.

During Castel’s sentencing hearing, Justice Jean Dalton said a letter she received from the woman was “very odd” and unlike any she had previously read from prisoners awaiting sentence.

The court heard Mr Castel’s family had also received a similar 12-page letter, which Justice Dalton said was “inappropriately religious” and did not appreciate the harm she had caused.

“She talks as if she had risen above everything, she has been forgiven and she is full of grace and everyone should just get on with it,” Justice Dalton explained.

She said Castel, who had since written “overly religious” letters to the court and her slain husband’s family, had not come to terms with what she had done.

The letter penned to Justice Dalton detailed Castel’s religious evangelism to prisoners and the conditions in jail.

“You are writing not just as someone with a religious faith, but someone who uses religion in a way to avoid coming to terms with reality,” Justice Dalton said.

Defence barrister Greg McGuire earlier said Castel was very religious and found support ministering to people in jail.

He said someone who was also as devout may not find the letters as confronting.

Mr McGuire described the way Mr Castel was killed as: “A stupid, dangerous act in a heated, silly argument” and said his client had shown remorse for what had transpired.

“Normally fatal knife injuries involve stabbings,” he said.

“This is not the case.”

Through a victim impact statement, Mr Castel’s father, Anthony Castel, said his son “died after abuse and violence against him”.

He said if it was a wife killed by her husband, society would have treated the death differently.

“If she were a man, she would be reviled for her aggressions,” he said.

Mr Castel’s brother, Ryan Castel, told the court Jarred Castel had worked tirelessly to provide for his family and it was the ultimate irony he was killed despite working late to support them and in the home he had hoped to leave for his son.

“Jarred regularly talked about his house and his dreams for his house, he wanted (his son) to have the house and so he didn’t have a financial burden,” he said.

“ … it is painful and deeply saddening that he will never see his dream.”

The slain man’s sister, Jay Geddes, said Castel had isolated her brother from his friends and family in the years before his death.

“Once he and Katie began dating, he began to change, but not in a positive way,” she said.

“Systematically, he began to spend less time with the people who mattered the most to him.

“Coming from a strong supportive and tight-knit family, I struggled with the damage she was creating.”

No parole eligibility date has been set.

Originally published as Former businesswoman Katie Anne Castel pleads guilty to manslaughter of husband Jarred Castel