A murderer has been sentenced to 37 years in prison for murdering his wife with an ax in front of their teenage children, in what a judge has described as a brutal and horrendous attack.
Dinush Kurera, 47, blinked and looked straight ahead as Victorian Supreme Court Justice Amanda Fox handed down her sentence on Thursday morning.
He will be eligible for parole after 30 years.
Kurera claimed he was acting in self-defence when he repeatedly stabbed his wife Nelomie Perera with an ax and knife at their Melbourne home on December 3, 2022.
But a jury rejected his version and in August found him guilty of murder after just three hours of deliberations.
Judge Fox described the fatal attack as brutal and horrific, saying Kurera was clearly furious.
“You were motivated by anger and saw everything through the prism of law and property,” he said in his sentence.
“In your opinion, Nelomie deserved to be killed for leaving you, excluding you from your home, and seeing other men.”
Dinush Kurera has been sentenced to 37 years in prison for murdering his wife Nelomi Perera with an ax
Dinush Kurera arrives at the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday
Kurera’s teenage children witnessed the attack and his 16-year-old daughter even tried to stop it while grabbing a knife.
The court heard she was forced to contemplate stabbing her father to save her mother’s life, Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson KC told the jury.
The audio had been captured on a special “safety watch” issued for women who fear they are at risk of harm from violent men.
“Suzy grabbed a black-handled knife… to try to stop her father from stabbing him,” Gibson said.
‘Suzy was too scared to stab him and instead dropped the knife near the kitchen area.
‘Nelomie looked at Suzy and said, “I’m dead.”‘
His security guard picked up Suzy and Kurera’s voice telling him, ‘Go. I have nothing to lose. Get out of here.’
Both children gave evidence at the trial and described in victim impact statements how harrowing the court process was.
The Sandhurst property where the bloody murder occurred.
Dinush Kurera, Nelomi Perera and their family. A jury rejected Dinush Kurera’s version that he acted in self-defense
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