Prosecutors have urged a jury to consider the amount of anger that must have driven an accused murderer to stab his wife dozens of times in a "frantic, angry, out-of-control attack" as she breastfed their infant son.
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The Crown on Monday began its lengthy closing submission in the month-long ACT Supreme Court trial of Maged Mohommed Ahmed Al-Harazi, 36.
He's accused of inflicting 57 knife wounds on Sabah Al-Mdwali, 28, in their Gordon home after a heated disagreement the night of March 16, 2015.
Mr Al-Harazi drove to Tuggeranong police station, where police say he bashed on the door and made stabbing motions towards his chest as he yelled, "My wife, my wife" about 3am.
He was charged with murder but has maintained his innocence, blaming his wife's father and teenage brother for her death.
Police arrested the two men, but they were later released without charge.
Mr Al-Harazi claimed the pair went to the house that night and asked him to leave with their children - aged seven, five and 10 months. He says he arrived home about 20 minutes later to discover the men had left and his wife's body on an upstairs bed.
The trial has heard Mr Al-Harazi was desperately unhappy and adamant his family return to their native Yemen. His wife wanted to stay in Australia and the dispute was a source of ongoing tension.
In his closing address to the jury, prosecutor Shane Drumgold accused Mr Al-Harazi of changing crucial parts of his evidence and attacked inconsistencies in his version of events surrounding the killing.
"It's crystal clear the entire street heard a terrible, volatile argument that went from 9pm that night to about 2am the next morning - five hours. This is an argument lasting an entire court sitting day," he said.
"This was a frenzied attack with many, many stab wounds."
The court heard Ms Al-Mdwali suffered gashes to her face, head, neck and chest, as well as defensive wounds to her hands.
She rolled forward as a result of her injuries before the the attack continued.
"This effectively means stabbing someone who had been immobilised in the back 30 times."
"We say all the evidence suggests this was a frantic, angry, out of control attack while Sabah was breastfeeding."
Mr Drumgold asked the jury to think about the amount of anger it would take to stab someone more than 50 times.
He queried whether Ms Al-Mdwali's father and brother, who were apparently left alone less than 20 minutes when they allegedly arrived at the house, were capable of such an attack.
The trial has heard Mr Al-Harazi initially said the two men arrived at the house at 11.35pm on March 16, but later changed his evidence to say they got there shortly after 2am.
Mr Drumgold said CCTV footage obtained from a nearby house showed the men's car hadn't been at the house at either of those times.
Mobile phone tower evidence suggested both men were at home in Gowrie, and nowhere near Knoke Avenue that night.
Mr Drumgold questioned how Mr Al-Harazi would have known his wife had been stabbed - a version of events repeated by his seven-year-old son - when he first went to the police station.
The Crown's closing submissions will continue, in front of Justice Richard Refshauge, on Tuesday.
