As SBS Punjabi reported earlier, 44-year-old Douglas Derick Eustace had repeatedly stabbed his wife Mary Freeman in their Hallam home, in Melbourne’s southeast. This occurred late in the night of the Australia Day public holiday of 2017.
Police attended the crime scene at 12:40am on January 27 and paramedics tried in vain to revive Ms Freeman, who was soon pronounced as deceased.
Eustace handed himself in at the Dandenong police station later. He was charged with one count of murder, to which he entered a guilty plea in September 2018.
In sentencing Eustace today, Supreme Court Justice Lesley Ann Taylor described his actions as “brutal and utterly senseless”.
"You killed her in a frenzied knife attack in the bedroom of your shared home," she said during the sentencing.
"No woman should fear or suffer physical harm because her partner loses his temper," she added.
Eustace will be deported to India, once he serves his sentence. He has already served 423 days in detention during the pre-sentencing period.
Ms Freeman and Mr Eustace were only recently married, after they first met each other in October last year.
Eustace was visiting Melbourne on a holiday when he met her for the first time and proposed to her within a few weeks.
They married soon thereafter, after which they lived together in their Hallam home.
In December 2018, Ms Freeman’s 16-year-old daughter had tearfully presented a victim impact statement to the court, saying to Eustace, “I can’t call you a man.”
Weeping, she said, “The person my mother was supposed to trust was just a façade."
"My mum could forgive anyone. She could have forgiven even you.”
"You deserve the same amount of pain she felt when you killed her and I hope you have to live with it forever, just like we do."
If you or someone you know is impacted by family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
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