Dinush Kurera, 47, has been sentenced to 37 years in prison for the “harrowing” murder of his estranged wife, Nelomie Perera, and the attack on their teenage son in December 2022.
ABC reports that Justice Mandy Fox delivered the sentence in Melbourne’s Supreme Court on Thursday, rejecting Kurera’s claim of self-defence as “hopeless.”
The court heard that Ms Perera had taken out an intervention order against Kurera, barring him from their Sandhurst home. ABC reports that furious upon his return from an overseas affair and learning his wife intended to leave him permanently, Kurera plotted a violent ambush. Dressed in black and armed with a hatchet, knife, and fuel, he broke into the property late at night and launched a sustained attack.
In a chilling recording captured by Ms Perera’s personal safety watch, her final moments were heard, including her heartbreaking last words to her daughter:
“I’m dead.”
Justice Fox, as per ABC, described the recording as “harrowing,” emphasising that Ms Perera was “unarmed and utterly defenceless.”
The couple’s teenage son and daughter attempted to intervene during the 14-minute attack but were unable to save their mother. Kurera also struck his son with the hatchet, causing injuries to his head, shoulder, and knee, before fleeing to a bathroom where he later confessed to police:
“I kill my wife. She’s dead over there.”
Prosecutors detailed Ms Perera’s 35 injuries and argued for a life sentence, describing the murder as “sustained, brutal, and vicious.” However, Justice Fox ruled the crime, though severe, did not meet the threshold for life imprisonment.
During the trial, ABC reports, Kurera forced his children to testify, claiming memory loss and insisting he acted in self-defence, a defence Justice Fox dismissed as “ridiculous.” The court was told of a decade-long history of domestic violence, with Justice Fox stating,
“You were motivated by anger and entitlement. Nelomie had every right to leave you.”
Dinush Kurera will be eligible for parole after 30 years.
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