LNP – Sri Lankan jailed for murdering wife with axe in front of their children

A Sri Lankan man has been sentenced to 37 years in jail for murdering his wife with an axe in front of their teenage children, in what a judge has described as a brutal and horrific attack.

In the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday, Dinush Kurera, 47, blinked and looked straight ahead as Justice Amanda Fox handed down the sentence.

He will be eligible for parole after 30 years.

Kurera claimed he was acting in self-defence when he repeatedly stabbed his wife, Nelomie Perera, with an axe and knife at her Melbourne home on 3 December 2022, the court had heard.

But a jury rejected his story, and in August found him guilty of murder after three hours of deliberations.

Fox described the fatal attack as brutal and horrific, saying Kurera had clearly been in a rage.

“You were motivated by anger and saw everything of the prism of entitlement and ownership,” she said in her sentence.

“In your mind, Nelomie deserved to be killed for leaving you, excluding you from your house and seeing other men.”

Kurera’s teenage children witnessed the attack and his 16-year-old daughter even tried to stop him as he grabbed a knife, the court heard.

Both children gave evidence at trial and described in victim impact statements how distressing the court process was.