30 year old Parminder Singh has been handed out 22 years in jail for stabbing wife Nikita Chawla in a crime, termed by the supreme court judge as an 'extreme case of family violence'.
Nikita, a 23 year old dancer and chorographer, was savagely stabbed with a meat cleaver in their Brunswick home in January this year.
After killing Nikita, Parminder had made a call to 0-0-0 and calmly said,"I want you to come and collect the dead body. I have killed my wife."
Parminder Singh is led into a prison van at the Supreme Court in Melbourne, Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. Singh has pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to murdering his wife Nikita Chawla at their Brunswick West home in January. (AAP Image/Julian Smith) NO ARCHIVING Source: AAP
He explained that he believed his wife was cheating on him."I just found out today, and then enxiety took over. I saw the messages on her phone and it has been going on for a long time," he told the police official on phone.
The court heard Ms Chawla had become unhappy as their relationship deteriorated, and was planning on ending it to be with another man.
In sentencing, Justice Lex Lasry said Singh had shown little remorse over what appeared to be an act of vengeance and control, "to ensure she did not share her life with anyone else".
Nikita died from blood loss after being struck 35 times with a meat cleaver, the ABC has reported.
"Family violence has for decades been ignored and trivialised," Justice Lasry told the court.
"This is an extreme example."
Judge Lasry said Singh did not seem to understand that whatever happened in the lead up to the killing did not excuse what he did.
Nikita's family said they hope that this sentence would act as an unequivocal reminder to violent men that their criminal actions would not be tolerated by the community.
Singh will have to serve 17 years in jail before he becomes eligible for a parole.
