A convicted fraudster who savagely beat his girlfriend's stepmother with a metal pole - and got away with it for a decade - has been sentenced to 20 years' jail.
For reasons unknown, Nicholas Wayne Lowe attacked Nanette Clarke at her Port Lincoln home in August 2003, leaving her with life-threatening head injuries, a broken arm and permanent hearing damage.
Lowe, who is already serving a 10-year jail term for a million-dollar Victims of Crime Fund fraud, was sentenced to a further 20 years for attempted murder in the South Australian Supreme Court on Monday.
The 33-year-old was not arrested for the crime until 2012 when his DNA taken by police over the fraud case was linked to evidence at the scene of Ms Clarke's attack.
On the day of the attack Mrs Clarke's partner, professional fisherman Neil Evans, returned from the water early because the wind had changed.
He found his bloodied wife being taken away by the masked assailant, who then fled the scene.
Mrs Clarke spent months in rehabilitation learning how to walk and talk again and upon returning home she felt in constant fear, and eventually had to sell the property.
"She still suffers headaches, pain and stiffening in her right arm, loss of taste and smell," Justice Malcolm Blue said in his sentencing remarks.
In her victim impact statement Mrs Clarke said she was overwhelmed by betrayal when she discovered it was her stepdaughter's trusted partner who had tried to kill her.
She told Lowe that she would carry forever the suffering he had caused.
But after the sentence was handed down the resilient Mrs Clarke said she was happy with the outcome and she could now get on with life.
"We look very much forward to moving on and having some normality in our lives now," she told reporters outside court.
Lowe will now serve a total of 30 years' prison, with a non-parole period of 20 years backdated to September 2012 when he was first jailed.
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