A Queensland man who was originally handed a life sentence for repeatedly stabbing his wife before bashing her in the head with a concrete bollard has been sentenced to 16 years' jail for her manslaughter after a jury accepted a rare defence she had provoked him.
Arona Peniamina was charged with the murder of Sandra Peniamina, 29, at their Kippa-Ring home in 2016 after she died during a violent argument about claims she was being unfaithful.
The 41-year-old man was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2018 after being found guilty of murder by an earlier jury, but he won an appeal in the High Court last year.
At the end of a retrial held in Brisbane last month, 11 of 12 jurors found Peniamina guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, after they were unable to come to a unanimous decision on a murder conviction.
The jury found the prosecution had proven the four elements of murder, but they accepted Peniamina's partial defence of provocation; that he deliberately killed his wife after a sudden provocative act.
During the retrial, the court heard Ms Peniamina was stabbed 29 times, before her husband bludgeoned her in the head with a piece of concrete from the garden while they were arguing about allegations of her infidelity.
Peniamina argued he had killed his wife after she provoked him during the fight, by arming herself with a knife, which cut his hand during a struggle.
'Etched in our minds forever'
Family members of Ms Peniamina watched a sentencing hearing via video link in New Zealand and an emotional impact statement from her sister was read to the court.
Carnetra Potter said in her statement the "selfish actions" of Peniamina would be "etched in our minds forever".
Ms Potter said Peniamina's four children now lived with her, and they constantly cried for their mother and asked if she was "safe and happy" where she was.
"You have taken such a beautiful soul and in return left four boys without a parent," the statement said.
"We can't imagine how these boys feel each day."
'Prolonged and vicious'
When handing down his sentence, Justice Peter Davis told the court Peniamina's actions were "prolonged and vicious" and "ferocious", and it was an "incredibly bad" example of manslaughter, but he accepted the jury determined he had established the provocation defence.
"You formed a murderous intent and deliberately killed your wife. But at the time you did the act and killed her, you temporarily lost the power of self-control," Judge Davis told the court.
"The attack after she cut you was savage.
"This violence was extreme."
Justice Davis told the court it was clear Peniamina was "immediately remorseful" but he had also hurt his children and had "deprived them of both of their parents for the majority of their childhood".
"Understandably they are badly effected — not only by the loss of their mother but the circumstances in how they lost her," he said.
"The offending was out of character, it was spontaneous … You are and were generally remorseful and you expressed that remorse immediately after the killing."
Peniamina will be eligible for parole after serving 80 per cent of his sentence, before he will be deported to New Zealand.
