An "evil" homeless man who believed he could talk to God has been jailed for 33 years for the violent rape and murder of a Melbourne woman as she walked to work.
Victorian Supreme Court Judge Betty King said the kind, caring, gentle Renea Lau tried valiantly to fight off Scott Allen Miller, 43, leaving finger drag marks in the dirt at the site where he attacked her last year.
"She grabbed onto anything she could find, including the ground, to stop you dragging her away from the light and what should have been safety," Justice King said.
But Miller overpowered Ms Lau, 32, beat her unconscious, then took her to Kings Domain park where he raped her twice in an attack that lasted more than an hour.
It was so brutal Ms Lau died.
Her bloodied body was discovered by walkers a few hours later.
"Your crime, what you did to Ms Lau, was positively evil," Justice King told Miller during his sentencing on Friday.
Miller, who has schizophrenia and a history of drug abuse, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one count of murder in January, following his arrest for the crimes in NSW last year.
He told police God had told him he would be charged for what he did, but that he didn't know his victim had died.
During his police interview he said he was "blind drunk" and had "just exploded".
"I didn't even think about it. I saw her and I attacked and raped her," Miller told police.
Miller, who had been sleeping in the rotunda in Melbourne's botanic gardens, said in the interview he was happy to go to prison because he would now have a place to stay.
Justice King said when Ms Lau walked to work along St Kilda Road about 5.30am the morning she died, she would have felt safe.
Actions such as Miller's cause women to feel frightened to be out in public in a city they have every right to be out and about in, she said.
Ms Lau, a pastry chef, had stayed overnight with a friend in Southbank after an evening of church choir practice in preparation for a performance at an aged care facility.
"This is the young woman who you murdered; a happy, contributing member of this society," Justice King told Miller on Friday.
Justice King said she would take Miller's untreated mental illness into account in sentencing, but general deference and public safety were paramount.
"The courts can and will do all they can to ensure that women are safe," she said.
She rejected his claim he was "blind drunk" at the time, saying witnesses described him as "borderline drunk".
She sentenced Miller to 33 years in prison, with a non parole period of 28 years.
"Your time in custody will be very lonely," Justice King told Miller.
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