A Perth court has heard how a woman was raised by heroin addict parents and was later working as an escort when she met the man she would eventually fatally stab in the chest.
Lauren Vivian Brown, 29, was on Friday sentenced to 5½ years in prison by the Supreme Court of WA for the manslaughter of fly-in, fly-out worker James Sheahy.
Lauren Vivian Brown, pictured inset, was found guilty of manslaughter.Credit: 9 News Perth
She was originally charged with murder, but a jury found her guilty on the lesser charge earlier this year.
Brown and Sheahy had been in a relationship for six months when an argument in their Joondalup apartment turned fatal.
Brown was six weeks pregnant at the time of the incident, which was escalated by jealousy between the pair. The court was told witnesses overheard arguments, and Brown claimed Sheahy was controlling and gave her money to stop her working as an escort.
On the night of September 28, 2023 one of those arguments turned deadly when animosity between Brown and Sheahy escalated over her communicating with another man.
“You stated he assaulted you by hitting and kicking you and dragging you by the hair,” Justice Joseph McGrath remarked.
“I find both of you were shouting and abusive towards each other.”
Brown went on to pepper-spray Sheahy’s face before getting the knife and stabbing him in the chest.
Brown then “ran down the stairs and hid the knife in the toilet”, in what McGrath called “an act of panic” before calling her mother and attempting to call emergency services.
She then ran back up to the couples’ apartment, where she was heard screaming at the sight of Sheahy injured, then fled the property again.
On Friday Brown’s defence barrister Edward Fitzpatrick told the Supreme Court of WA his client had a “turbulent upbringing”, witnessing violence and her parents overdosing on drugs.
The court was told she left home at 14, was pregnant with her first child by 16 and had a series of violent relationships before becoming an escort and meeting Sheahy.
Fitzpatrick said there was “genuine love and affection” for Sheahy, but state prosecutor Michael Cvetkoski said Brown lied to police and was “not forthright about her role in the matter”, despite letters written to the court expressing her remorse and empathy.
In sentencing her, McGrath said “bringing a knife to the argument” was “unnecessary and disproportionate”, leaving the couple’s almost one-year-old son without a father.
She will be eligible for parole.
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