A grieving Queensland mother says she'll never erase the memory of seeing her daughter being stabbed to death by her husband as she watched television beside her.
Marlene Locke described to the Brisbane Supreme Court how she'd been "torn to pieces" by the unbearable pain suffered when Raymond John Mead killed his stepdaughter in February 2014.
Mead was on Wednesday sentenced to life in jail for the murder of mother-of-three Sherelle Locke, 23, at her Boronia Heights house.
Justice Ann Lyons, who sentenced Mead to a non-parole term of 20 years and six months, said the 52-year-old's actions were "cowardly" and "reprehensible" and he'd shown no remorse.
Mead's estranged wife, who gave a victim impact statement to the court, had been sitting beside her daughter when he thrust a knife into her chest.
"Witnessing my daughter Sherelle being murdered right before my own eyes is the most devastating, heart-breaking, horrific, unbearable experience and pain I have ever been through in my entire life and I will never be able to get that vision out of my head," Ms Locke said in the statement read to the court.
Ms Locke also said Mead was a violent, jealous, paranoid and vindictive person who killed her first-born child and best friend, and also denied her three grandchildren a mother.
"It tears me to pieces, just like the night you took her from us," the statement read.
During the August murder trial, Ms Locke said Mead appeared in the living room, pinned her daughter down on the sofa and grabbed her by the throat.
She only realised Mead had a knife when he pulled it from her daughter's body before chasing after her, pinning her to a wall for five to 10 minutes and told her she was next.
Justice Lyons said the father-of-six was a "practised liar"and had constantly breached domestic violence orders against not only his then-wife, but also a previous partner.
"What makes your offending worse Mr Mead is that during the entire period of offending you were subject to a domestic violence order ... and there is a history of domestic violence going back to 2008," Justice Lyons said.
Mead did plead guilty to manslaughter but was found guilty of murdering Ms Locke.
He was additionally sentenced to two years for assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and 12 months for retaliation against a witness, which are to be served concurrently.
He will be 72 years old before being eligible to apply for parole.
National domestic violence helpline: 1800 737 732 or 1800RESPECT. In an emergency call triple-zero.
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