An Adelaide man who attacked a stranger with a garden stake, swinging it like a baseball bat, has been jailed for a least 25 years for murder.
The attack by Robert Joseph Patard in a park at suburban Hackham West in September 2019 came as he argued with his partner after accusing her of cheating.
Around the same time, Shaun Russell walked past the pair but had no interaction with them and did nothing to provoke Patard, Justice Anne Bampton said in sentencing on Wednesday.
"As he was walking back along the path, your partner said you pulled a garden stake out of the ground, told her to stand back and swung the garden stake like a baseball bat at Mr Russell," the judge said.
"Your partner said she looked away. When she looked back, she saw Mr Russell lying on the ground with blood on his face."
Mr Russell died of head and facial injuries, including extensive fracturing of the bones of his mid-face, jaw and base of the skull, indicating the use of severe force.
A forensic pathologist gave evidence that based on the number of injuries to Mr Russell's head and face, there would have been a minimum of three to maybe four blows.
While Patard initially pleaded not guilty to murder, he changed his plea to guilty on the fourth day of his Supreme Court trial.
Justice Bampton said the 45-year-old had ultimately taken responsibility for the murder and expressed sorrow for taking Mr Russell's life.
However, prosecutors said his guilty plea had come too late and was self-serving.
Justice Bampton said Mr Russell had been making his way home when he was killed and had every right to be in the park.
"It was you, in the grip of the uncontrolled anger and sexual possessiveness that underpinned your violent killing, who had no right to be in that public place," she told Patard.
The judge jailed him for life and set a 25-year non-parole period.
