Man admits killing wife but pleads not guilty to her murder
A man on trial for stabbing his wife to death outside their Queensland home has admitted killing her, but insists he is not guilty of her murder.
Convinced his wife was having an affair, Arona Peniamina stabbed her repeatedly and bashed her head in with a bollard.
But the 41-year-old denies intending to kill the mother of four.
Peniamina has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Sandra at their home in Kippa-Ring, north of Brisbane, on March 31, 2016.
He did admit causing her death, offering to plead guilty to manslaughter which was rejected by prosecutors at the outset of his Brisbane Supreme Court trial on Tuesday.
Lawyers will argue Peniamina had ālost controlā and provocation would be a key element to his defence.
The jury was told Peniamina was consumed by jealousy.
His wife had started sleeping alone and had just returned from a trip to New Zealand where pictures of her were posted on social media by another man, prosecutor Dzenita Balic said.
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A livid Peniamina voiced his anger to family members before returning home to confront his wife.
The pair argued in the bedroom before Peniamina lashed out, punching his wife in the face before she ran to the kitchen to arm herself with a knife.
The Crown alleges he wrestled the knife from her, cutting his hand when he grabbed the blade.
He again punched her before stabbing her multiple times with the kitchen knife.
Experts found 29 sharp force injuries on her battered body ā 15 to her head alone with six penetrating her skull and one slashing her from nose to chin, exposing her nasal septum.
When she tried to escape he followed her, threw her onto the driveway and kicked her before caving her head in with a bollard.
āShe ultimately died from a press skull fracture which led to her death as the result of traumatic injury to the back of the head,ā Balic said.
Police found the handle of the knife Peniamina used underneath the familyās parked car, the blade was discovered nearby and its tip was later found embedded in her skull.
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āIn terms of the mechanism of how it was inflicted ā¦ it was the severity of the force used because there was contact made with the skull ā¦ or the person tried to manoeuvre the knife out of the skull and the tip was embedded in the skull.ā
One of the coupleās children saw the attack and told police of seeing their father āknifingā his mother before smashing her head into the floor.
The jury was shown crime scene photos with blood spattered across the dining room and kitchen floors, on kitchen cupboards and the inside of the front door.
Barrister Timothy Ryan said conversations with police immediately after the attack would be the key to Peniaminaās defence and explain his violent reaction.
āThe defence case will be that as a result of provocation he lost self-control and having lost self-control, formed the intention to kill his wife and did so whilst in that state,ā Ryan said.
Neighbour Michael White recalled hearing a loud screaming coming from next door.
āThey were the sort of screams that you knew someone was in trouble,ā White said.
He said he told his mother to call triple zero and walked to the front of the house, where he found the victim face down on the driveway and a man crouching nearby.
āThe man moved back toward the house and I took the opportunity to get closer to her to see if she was OK.
āShe was not responding, she was not screaming anymore.ā
The trial beforeĀ Justice Peter DavisĀ continues.
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