Penis chopping woman jailed for 3 years

29 Aug 2012, 5:10 pm   -   Source: AAP

A woman who chopped off her ex-partner's penis was suffering from a depressive illness when she killed him in an act of "gratuitous cruelty", a judge says.

A Sydney woman who chopped off part of her former lover's penis to stop him targeting other women has been jailed for at least three years and nine months for his killing.

Handing down the sentence in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Monika Schmidt found Jian Chen was "substantially impaired from an abnormality of mind" when she killed Xian Peng, but that it was an act of "considerable gratuitous cruelty".

Chen, 49, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Peng, 48, after she laced his soup with sleeping pills and tied him up for six hours at her North Ryde home on February 9, 2011.

She stabbed him repeatedly in the neck and groin and cut off part of his penis, before flushing it down the toilet, the court heard.

Afterwards she rang paramedics telling them, "I kill my ex-boyfriend, he's a crook".

Mr Peng was still alive when paramedics arrived, but died in hospital later that night from multiple stab wounds.

Psychiatric documents tendered to the court said Chen was convinced Mr Peng was a "professional conman targeting wealthy women".

"(She thought) the victim wanted to use his penis to capture women by having children with them so that he could control them," Justice Schmidt said.

She noted Chen acted out of a "mixture of anger and fear" towards Mr Peng, who had threatened her.

But she said while Chen's actions were no doubt affected by her underlying depressive illness, "the victim's consciousness of his awful situation may not be overlooked in assessing the seriousness of the nature of these events".

Justice Schmidt said in the hours before the killing, "(Chen) took time to consider her various options".

"She did not stab the victim until the early hours of the morning, after having considered her situation over many hours," she said.

By flushing the penis down the toilet before calling paramedics, Chen also ensured "her mutilation had the consequences she intended", Justice Schmidt said.

The judge took into account Chen's early guilty plea, her prior good character, her remorse and the unlikelihood that she will re-offend.

She sentenced Chen to a maximum of six years and nine months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.

Taking into account time already served, she will be eligible for parole in November 2014.

Chen cried quietly throughout the sentencing, saying, "Thank you, your honour," after the sentence was handed down.

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