A woman who fed her husband biscuits laced with sleeping pills, wrapped him in a blanket and stuffed him in a backyard freezer has been found guilty of his murder.
Rebecca Payne, 43, faced a three-week trial at the Supreme Court in Mildura, accused of killing her 68-year-old husband in the small town of Walpeup, in northwestern Victoria, in September 2020.
She admitted she killed Noel Payne by drugging him with temazepam, which she crushed up and put inside the icing of two homemade biscuits, and then hid his body in a freezer at the back of their home.
However, she denied she had committed murder and instead pleaded guilty to manslaughter as she claimed she did not intend to kill him.
Jurors retired to deliberate on their verdict on Tuesday afternoon, returning after less than 24 hours with a guilty verdict.
Justice Rita Incerti thanked the jury for their service and discharged them.
"You've obviously been paying attention and I'd like to thank you for that," she told jurors on Wednesday.
Prosecutor David Glynn previously told the trial Payne "wanted to be free" of her husband, who was violent and controlling with her and another woman over many years.
The couple had separated twice, in 2008 and 2012, and during the second split Mr Payne had moved a younger woman into their family home and then pursued a sexual relationship with both of them.
Mr Glynn said after she killed her husband, Payne, two of her sons and the younger woman drove to Mildura for a shopping spree with his credit card and purchased pets including a fish, bird and lizard.
When police inquired about her husband's whereabouts, she moved the freezer containing his body to a neighbour's house. The neighbour's son opened the freezer and called police.
Payne, who remains in custody, will return to court at a later date for a pre-sentence hearing.
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