Man jailed for stabbing wife to death

18:17 AEST Tue Jun 8 2010

A Melbourne man who stabbed his wife to death in front of their young son after she told him she loved another man, has been jailed for 19 years.

Ron Felicite, 28, told police he grabbed "the biggest knife I could find" and stabbed Marie Juliette Felicite repeatedly in the neck and throat at their home in Narre Warren on August 30 last year.

At least part of the attack was witnessed by the couple's four-year-old son.

"Your crime is one of savage brutality, carried out on a person you professed to love," Justice Terry Forrest said in sentencing.

Felicite had been upset his wife was communicating with an American man, Dino, on Facebook, the Victorian Supreme Court heard.

The day before her death, Mrs Felicite admitted she loved Dino and produced an email stating he was coming to Australia and would wait for her.

Felicite told police the situation "hit me hard" but he accepted it.

He then said he took a large amount of Valium and when he awoke, he felt like a "pressure cooker".

After having an argument with his wife, he followed her into the kitchen, took two knives and attacked her.

The court heard Felicite had a longstanding anger problem and in the lead-up to the attack, had been kicked out of relatives' homes over his violent antics.

He had also threatened to kill his wife in 2007 because she talked on the phone while in a cinema.

In May last year, he threatened to kill his parents after fighting with his father on the telephone but his son screamed when he saw him place a knife under his jacket.

"He then ran away and hid in his tent. Only then did you desist," Justice Forrest said.

Mrs Felicite had also called police over a domestic dispute on the day of the attack.

"I have been unhappy for a long time, I got married too young. I want to leave, but I feel sorry for him because he can't live without me," she told police.

Felicite was taking sedatives for his anger problem but his appointment to see a psychiatrist was not until after the killing.

Justice Forrest said his crime was not premeditated, but the fact the couple's son witnessed it was an aggravating factor.

The judge said the now five-year-old boy had lost not just his mother, but also his father, possibly forever.

"There is no way of measuring the psychological trauma you have inflicted upon him," he said.

Felicite showed little reaction during sentencing.

Outside court, family friend Jackie Celestin Corentin, comforted Mrs Felicite's crying mother.

"She was a beautiful human being. What a loss, what a loss," Ms Corentin told reporters.

The judge accepted it was likely Felicite was suffering a major depressive disorder at the time, but its link to his crime was weak.

He said his plea of guilty showed his remorse.

Felicite will serve a minimum 16 years' jail.

From: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1066438/man-jailed-for-stabbing-wife-to-death