A woman who killed her sadistic husband and hid his body in a freezer has had her sentence cut on appeal.
Rebecca Payne, 44, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June last year after being convicted of the murder of Noel Payne, 68.
At trial, Payne claimed that she did not intend to kill him when she gave him lemon cookies laced with temazepam, only that she wanted to sedate him for a while.
Payne appealed the conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeals, with his attorneys arguing that the conviction was a miscarriage of justice and that the facts of the case should have resulted in more mercy.
On Wednesday, Justices Terry Forrest, Stephen McLeish and Stephen Kaye returned to court as they rejected his appeal against his murder conviction.
But they overturned his 16-year sentence and imposed a new 12-year sentence.
His non-parole period was also reduced from 10 years to seven, meaning that with time served he will be eligible for parole in September 2027.
They will publish their reasons.
Payne, 44, was found guilty of murdering Noel Payne, 68, following a three-week trial.
Court was told Noel Payne was an abusive husband (pictured)
Handing down his original sentence in June last year, Judge Rita Incerti said Noel Payne had inflicted years of depraved sexual, emotional and physical abuse on his wife.
“The abuse was insidious… You were trapped in an abusive, violent and cruel environment for over a decade,” he said.
“I accept that his regrettable conduct cannot be separated from the abuse he suffered.”