Family members and loved ones of murdered mother Michelle Darragh wept and embraced each other in the Supreme Court, as the man who took her life was jailed for 25 years.
Benjamin Coman's actions on the evening of October 9, 2021 were described by Justice Andrew Tinney as an "outrageous outpouring of violence".
He said Coman, now 31, had shown "jealousy that reached psychotic proportions" when he stabbed his ex-partner in the back with a kitchen knife, fatally wounding her.
Ms Darragh, a mother of two who was 12 weeks pregnant, had days earlier broken up with Coman due to his persistent drug habit, dishonesty and infidelity.
Angry that she was leaving him, Coman carried out the attack with a 20-centimetre carving knife when Ms Darragh went to collect clothes from the Bayswater house they shared in Melbourne's east.
Coman sat stone-faced and showed no emotion during a 90-minute sentencing hearing before Justice Tinney, who said acts of deadly domestic violence carried out by men were becoming "distressingly familiar".
As the judge announced the 25-year sentence, Ms Darragh's mother Dianne sobbed loudly and another family supporter turned to Coman and said "suffer, you dog".
Outside court, Ms Darragh's supporters rallied around parents Dianne and Ashley Darragh.
"He blatantly killed her and I'm happy for the world to see that … she was so innocent," Dianne Darragh said tearfully.
"She really did love her family. She adored her little boys. Ash and I will raise her boys in the way she wanted them raised."
Mr Darragh said the family was pleased with the 25-year jail term imposed on Coman, which includes a non-parole period of 20 years.
"No amount of time is long enough. But it's a very just sentence," he said.
Judge says man 'knew full well' what he was doing
Mr Darragh was the first person on the scene when he went to his daughter's place to check on her, and then saw her bloodied body and that of Coman, who had self-inflicted wounds.
Coman and Ms Darragh had two children from their relationship, and she had a third on the way when she was killed.
The court heard Coman had a long-running drug habit in the years before the attack, and had also cheated on Ms Darragh with sex workers at brothels.
Ms Darragh stood by him — even saving his life during a suicide attempt — but decided to end the relationship after he withdrew nearly $90,000 from a joint savings account.
The money was meant to be for a house deposit. Coman spent it on a sports car for himself.
Justice Tinney rejected suggestions that Coman was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis at the time of the attack.
"When you attacked her with a carving knife you knew full well of what you were doing," he said.
The judge accepted Coman had shown remorse and had good prospects of rehabilitation, noting his mental health issues had improved while he was in prison.
With time already served, Coman will be eligible for parole in 2041.
