A Melbourne woman has been jailed for the stabbing death of a prospective sex client in a dispute over payment.
Ella Christine Copeland, 26, had been hoping to make some extra cash to support her heroin addiction when she went with Colin Davey, 68, to his apartment near Melbourne's St Vincent's Hospital on September 10, 2012.
The former nurse had been working as a street sex worker to support her habit.
After Mr Davey asked her about the cost of sex, he offered to pay her half up-front and half after.
Copeland told him she didn't work like that and he asked her to leave.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Chris Maxwell said it is unclear what happened next.
Copeland, who pleaded guilty to a charge of defensive homicide, told police she thought Davey was going to rape or kill her.
She said Davey turned around holding a knife and said "we're going to have a little bit of fun", at which point she managed to disarm him and stab him in the back.
Justice Maxwell said although the Crown did not accept Copeland's version of events, the presence of two meat cleavers near Mr Davey's body indicated she may have faced some threat.
Mr Davey's daughter Coralin told investigators these were kept behind the fuse box for protection in the event of an armed intrusion.
"The presence of meat cleavers prevented the Crown from suggesting that you had not faced any threat at all," Justice Maxwell told Copeland on Tuesday.
Davey, a father of four, managed to call triple-zero before Copeland left with her bag, a box of his medication and his wallet, containing $420.
By the time Copeland left, three police officers were in the lift.
They saw she had blood on her clothing and her hands.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Coralin Davey said she had lost the biggest part of her life.
"It breaks my heart to know my best friend won't be there for me to open up to the way I used to," Ms Davey said.
Justice Maxwell sentenced Copeland to eight years' jail with a non-parole period of five years.
Copeland, who has been addicted to heroin since she was in year 11 at a Melbourne private school, cried throughout the sentence hearing.
