A man who murdered his wife by stabbing her 12 times with a kitchen knife in the family home has appealed the length of his 25-year jail sentence.
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Douglas Eustace, 46, murdered his wife, Mary Freeman, at their home in Hallam, in Melbourne's southeast, in January 2017, three months after their wedding.
He was jailed for 25 years in March 2019 and ordered to serve 20 years before being eligible for parole.
Eustace on Thursday faced Victoria's Court of Appeal, where his barrister Patrick Tehan QC argued the sentence was manifestly excessive.
Mr Tehan said the murdered woman had verbally abused his client, an Indian national, and told him "f*** off right now to India" while holding a paring knife.
Ms Freeman also called him an "opportunistic c***" and threatened to make a Facebook post suggesting their wedding was a sham, the court heard.
Mr Tehan said his client's guilty plea had been undervalued by the sentencing judge and that a self-defence argument could have been run if the case went to trial.
"Emotions were very high," the barrister said.
"They both finished up armed and he immediately runs to the police, gives himself up, makes a full confession ... (and) gets no benefit for pleading guilty."
Justice Phillip Priest said given Eustace stabbed Ms Freeman 12 times and was never stabbed himself, a self-defence case would have failed.
He added that the paring knife held by Ms Freeman was roughly the same size as a fountain pen.
"You could have run a trial, but lots of people run hopeless trials," Justice Priest said.
Acting for the Crown, Christopher Boyce QC said Eustace and his wife had been drinking with friends before an argument about "men versus women" broke out between the couple.
The court previously heard Eustace then grabbed a knife from the kitchen and repeatedly stabbed Ms Freeman in their bedroom as she cowered and crouched, trying cover herself.
Friends restrained him, but he broke free and stabbed her again, yelling "I want to kill this bitch".
Eustace then handed himself in to police.
Justice Lesley Taylor previously described the murder as "brutal and utterly ruthless".
"You killed her in a frenzied knife attack in the bedroom of your shared home," the sentencing judge said.
The appeal hearing before Justice Priest, Terence Forrest and Richard Niall is set to be continued at a later date.
Australian Associated Press
