Shaun King attends sentence hearing after murder of partner Drew Douglas
A man who stabbed his longtime partner to death using a kitchen knife inside their western Sydney home has appeared in court where a Supreme Court judge is set to decide his fate.
A man stabbed a mother-of-four to death inside their western Sydney home during a drug-induced psychosis in an “entirely unprovoked” attack, a court has been told.
Shaun Michael King, murdered his long-time partner Drew Douglas, 33, in August 2023 using a kitchen knife at a home in St Marys, in Sydney’s west.
She was treated by paramedics for multiple stab wounds but was pronounced dead at the scene.
King pleaded guilty to the murder in May 2025, and appeared on screen via AVL from Goulburn Correctional Centre in the Supreme Court of Sydney on Monday for a sentence hearing over the horrific crime.
Crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney told the court that King had acted with “extreme violence”, and it is not in dispute this is a man who “acted with intent to kill”.
“This murder was entirely unprovoked,” he said.
Mr Marney submitted it was not a case of a man who “just lashed out”, but rather that he acted with an intent to kill by grabbing the kitchen knife.
“It does provide him with an opportunity to think … and the decision he made was to kill,” he said.
The facts of the case are “really quite disturbing”, Mr Marney said.
“Where a man kills his partner … out of anger … out of complete disregard for her to make decisions about her life …. punishment is extremely important and the community demands of our justice system … that a sentence that properly punishes our offender is put in place,” he said.
“That recognition of harm is something your honour would take into account.”
Meanwhile, the defence submitted that King’s mental state at the time of the offence must be taken into consideration.
They said there was no evidence to suggest any premeditation or planning in obtaining the knife and waiting for a situation to occur to use the knife.
“It is more a situation … as experts say … it was an impulse act borne out of anger but the anger must be seen through the lens of what the offender’s mental state was at that time,” they said.
King had been suffering from mental health conditions at the time of the offence as well as prior the court was told, including anxiety, PTSD, major depressive episode, ADHD, and substance abuse, the court was told.
He was also in a drug induced psychosis in the days leading up to the murder, the defence said, citing an expert’s report.
The court was also told the night before the murder King made a triple-0 call where he appeared to be trying to obtain help from the police.
While the defence submits King was not “properly articulating” what he needed from police at the time, it was “effectively a call for help”.
King is due to be sentenced later in the month.
