A woman who killed her sleeping husband will spend at least 18 years behind bars after a judge said it may never be known why the women committed the "crime of extreme violence".
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"With much to live for, and aged only about 50, Mr Vella's life was violently ended when he was shot dead by his wife," Justice Helen Wilson said on Friday.
"We are all diminished by the violent and too early death of a member of the community."
Dale Lee Vella, 54, was sentenced to 24 years in jail in the NSW Supreme Court after a jury found the Murrumbateman woman guilty of murder in April.
Justice Wilson described the deceased man, Mark Anthony Vella, as having been "entirely vulnerable in sleep" when his wife of 23 years shot him in the right eye on the night of August 9, 2021.
"It is an extremely serious thing for a man to be shot at close range while he slept peacefully in his own bed by a powerful firearm like a shotgun," Justice Wilson said.
Vella never denied shooting her husband but maintained her initial intent was to kill herself that winter night and that she was substantially mentally impaired enough to reduce her moral culpability to manslaughter.
As Crown prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe had argued, the court concluded Vella had an "intention to kill" her husband with the act.
"I've shot him. I was going to shoot myself but I've shot him," Vella said to family friend David Borg after the incident.
Justice Wilson said evidence presented, such as internet searches about suicide, spare cartridges in her slipper and telling her daughter "he can't hurt us anymore" were consistent with a possible murder-suicide.
"She probably planned to kill herself, whether she intended to also kill her husband is not known beyond a reasonable doubt," the judge said on Friday.
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Defence barrister Greg Hoare told the court his client had been subjected to years of emotional abuse and coercive control.
The judge said she did not "accept the demonisation of Mr Vella" and "the court does not accept that he was in fact abusive, controlling or violent towards [the offender]".
Justice Wilson described Vella's account of her husband's abusive behaviour as "inconsistent, contradictory and disputed by others".
On the two-week trial's key question, the judge concluded there was "no evidence" supporting Vella's defence that she was substantially impaired when she killed her husband.
On the advice of expert witnesses, the judge accepted Vella was depressed on the night in question, affecting her decision-making process, and that some reduction of her moral culpability was warranted.
"None of that explains why she made a decision to end her husband's life," Justice Wilson said.
"So many have suffered and will continue to suffer because of the offender's crime."
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Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
