A now-quadriplegic man who slashed his lover's throat before severing his own spinal cord has been sentenced to 20 years in jail, with a judge saying he had killed one of the few people who believed in him and loved him.
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Michael Quinn, 27, will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years for the murder of his on-off girlfriend Cherie Vize, 25, in Wollongong in 2013.
Delivering his sentence in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday afternoon, Justice Robert Beech-Jones said he was not satisfied that Quinn had ever genuinely accepted responsibility for killing Ms Vize.
"The killing of a woman as a consequence of her decision to leave the relationship is a persistent evil," Justice Beech-Jones said.
"A person she cared for launched a cowardly and vicious attack on her...Ms Vize's death was not quick or painless. To the contrary, it would have been terrifying and she would have suffered greatly."
Quinn was earlier this year found guilty of murdering Ms Vize, a budding artist, before stabbing himself on the front lawn of his family home.
He pleaded not guilty to murder, with his lawyers unsuccessfully arguing that his charge should be reduced to manslaughter because he was substantially impaired by an abnormality of mind at the time of the killing.
Justice Beech-Jones acknowledged prison would be more onerous for Quinn, who is a quadriplegic from his self inflicted injuries and will be housed in a hospital ward at Long Bay.
"I have no doubt that a jail sentence will seem like an eternity to Mr Quinn. He will only have his thoughts to contend with," Justice Beech-Jones said.
Giving evidence during his trial, Quinn claimed that he had planned to take his own life because he wanted to break up with Ms Vize but was afraid of upsetting her.
Ms Vize, he said, ran to the front lawn stop him and was accidentally and fatally wounded in a struggle for the knife.
But the Crown's case was that Quinn was in a jealous rage when he murdered Ms Vize after she tried to end their relationship.
Ms Vize's friends and family gave evidence that Quinn, who has been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder, called her at all hours of the day and showed up unexpectedly at her home.
His trial heard that had contacted her mobile 227 times in the 11 days before her death, while she had contacted his phone just nine times during the same period.
Justice Beech-Jones said Quinn's evidence was implausible and inconsistent, and he dismissed all aspects of it that could not be corroborated.
He said evidence at the trial showed that Ms Vize was an "exceptionally warm and caring person" who had sought to mitigate Quinn's feelings of rejection.
"Michael Quinn viciously attacked the one person outside of his family who believed in him and loved him," Justice Beech-Jones said.
"This case is a serious example of the affliction of extreme domestic violence upon women."
