A Melton man who murdered his former partner because she would no longer be with him has been jailed for 23 years, with the judge in the case noting the woman stood little chance of survival once her ex decided she should die.
Makeny Banek repeatedly punched and kicked Abuk Akek, 20, in her Melton unit on March 13 last year, and then stabbed her three times with a knife when he realised he could not kill her by punching her.
Banek put Ms Akek’s body on her bed once she was dead and covered her with a sheet, cleaned her flat and then left, only to return later that afternoon to look for his mobile phone. While there, he put a plastic white rose next to her head on the pillow.
Banek’s lawyer previously argued his action in placing the flower beside Ms Akek showed a lack of insight, but on Wednesday Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher described the act as “weird and disturbing”.
Justice Croucher said Banek told police he had decided he would kill Ms Akek once she had made it clear she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him.
Banek formed the view “if you want to leave me, I might as well take you with me”, the judge said.
They had a son together, who is now aged three. The little boy was with his grandmother on the day of the attack.
Justice Croucher said Banek had previously served time in jail for assaulting Ms Akek, and that his decision to kill her reflected his “distorted, selfish and deeply repugnant thinking”.
When Banek began assaulting Ms Akek after arriving at her unit and arguing with her, the aspiring law student stood little chance, the court heard.
“She was small, petite and alone. He was tall, rangy and intent on killing her,” Justice Croucher said.
Banek, 25, pleaded guilty to murder after confessing to the attack when police found him asleep at a friend’s house hours after the attack.
When arrested, Banek told police: “I snapped, I used a knife and my fists. I love her very much but she did not love me.”
Later, in a police interview he said: “When I snapped I decide to beat her up and kill her. In my mind it just said, ‘Kill her’ you know. So I just did or try. Like, ‘I don’t know if you live or not’.”
Banek, who is more than two metres tall, was jailed in 2014 for assaulting his then partner.
In August of that year he woke Ms Akek one morning and began punching her. A fortnight later he defied an intervention order by waking her by biting her face before he tried to choke her.
About three weeks before the murder, Ms Akek was with a friend when Banek told the friend: “I could kill her right now, bash her to death, but you are here.”
Justice Croucher said Ms Akek’s murder was a grave example of the offence and had cruelly denied her young son any memory of her.
The crime was aggravated by Banek’s history of violence. He had experienced trouble with alcohol and the drugs ice and cannabis in recent years.
The judge took into account Banek’s youth, early guilty plea and prospects for rehabilitation.
Banek was born in Sudan and came to Australia in 2005 with his family, following 12 years in a refugee camp in Kenya.
He and Ms Akek, also born in Sudan, met in 2012.
The court heard Ms Akek’s family remembered her kindness and “golden heart” and that her death had left them feeling pain, anger and dismay and “unbearable scars on their hearts”.
He must serve at least 18 years before he is eligible for parole.
