A father who beat and stabbed his partner to death in front of their two daughters has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Steven Dean, 38, brutally attacked Emmerich Lasakar, 35, and left her dying on the floor of their home in Kewdale, nine kilometres southeast of Perth’s CBD.
In a drug-induced psychosis, he then drove away in his Ford Ranger Raptor, driving through several suburbs at speeds of up to 96 mph.
Dean raced through red lights, stop signs and over a railroad track, where he was nearly hit by a passenger train, the ABC reported.
On Friday he was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Western Australia to life imprisonment for murder, with a minimum of 20 years before he is eligible for parole.
Judge Bruno Fiannaca said the abusive father got into an argument with Ms Lasakar and then hit her, stabbing and cutting her 13 times.
It was “senseless, insane and brutal violence … you left her for dead,” the judge said, adding that Dean’s actions had caused “devastation and destruction of lives.”
The couple’s daughters were home at the time and the eldest child, then 14, tried to protect her mother.
Steven Dean (right) brutally attacked Emmerich Lasakar (left) and left her dying on the floor of their home in Kewdale, nine kilometres southeast of Perth’s CBD
Judge Fiannaca said Ms Lasakar had a “right to feel safe in her home with the father of her children”, and he spoke of the large height and weight difference between Dean and his partner, who had “no real chance to defend himself”.
As Dean drove through the suburbs after killing Mrs. Lasakar, he stopped at a gas station, attempted to steal cigarettes, threatened the attendant, and attempted to stab the man through the protective screen.
Later, after he had an accident in his pickup truck, Dean went to a nearby house, asked for help and washed his face.
He then took a kitchen knife into the backyard, where he tried to stab himself in the neck.
When police arrived, they had to apprehend Dean with a taser and took him to Royal Perth Hospital for the fractures and dislocations he suffered in the crash.
The court heard that Dean was suffering from a methamphetamine-induced psychosis when he killed his partner, which led to ‘bizarre and disgusting thoughts’ about her, including that she was unfaithful to him, WA Today reported.
He had been using cocaine for three years after a colleague died in a traumatic incident at work.
After accidentally using methamphetamine, he developed a habit that led to mental health problems in the months before the murder, but he refused to seek help.
Dean recorded himself driving at high speed after the attack in a ‘psychotic tirade’ about Ms Lasakar, who he had told to quit her job in the laundry a few days earlier.
Witnesses described Dean as controlling and said Mrs Lasakar was a devoted mother. However, the court heard that on the day of the attack he appeared calm and rational and his family visited him at work and went on picnics with him.
“Your offence is one of the most serious examples of domestic violence,” said Judge Fiannaca.
‘I do not accept that your psychotic state should diminish your sense of guilt… Domestic violence committed by men against women… to control their lives is appalling.’
The court heard that Emmerich Lasakar (pictured) was a devoted mother to her daughters
Dean, an entrepreneur with no previous convictions for a criminal offense, pleaded guilty to murder, attempted armed robbery, aggravated burglary and reckless driving.
Diana, Mrs Lasakar’s sister, who took in the children, said it was a terrible time.
“Nothing can bring our sister back,” she said.
“(I)m just trying to survive, wake up and keep doing the right thing, and teach these two kids that violence is not okay.”