Brutal killer Ricardo Barbaro learns his fate for savagely butchering Ellie Price before leaving her in a blood-soaked bedroom
- Ricardo Barbaro received 28 years in prison
- He stabbed and slit his girlfriend’s throat
A murderous boyfriend has been criticized for showing no remorse for his ‘senseless and cruel crime’ as he learned his fate following the brutal murder of his stripper girlfriend.
Ricardo Barbaro, 38, returned to the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday morning after being jailed for 28 years for the murder of his girlfriend Ellie Price in April 2020.
But outside court, Ms Price’s tearful mother, Tracey Gangell, said he should have been locked up for life.
“A life for a life – if he can take a life from someone, his life should be taken,” she said.
“He’s still breathing, he’s still seeing his family, I’m not seeing my daughter anymore.”
Dressed all in black, he greeted his brother Harley Barbaro with a grin and a wave from the dock – the pair were not allowed to touch by court security.
Ellie Price, 26, lay dead in the blood-soaked bedroom of her South Melbourne apartment for five days until she was discovered by police
Ricardo Barbaro’s DNA was found under Ellie Price’s fingernails
Ms Price, 26, lay dead in the blood-soaked bedroom of her South Melbourne apartment for five days until she was discovered by police during a welfare check initiated by her concerned mother.
She had suffered six stab wounds, three of which could have been fatal, including her throat being slit.
Barbaro was captured on CCTV leaving Ms Price’s apartment in her Mercedes in the early morning of April 29, never to return.
He was arrested in NSW after fleeing Victoria and getting a lift from his father Giuseppe ‘Joe’ Barbaro after dumping the vehicle at a Diggers Rest property.
Three scratches on Barbaro’s arms, Judge Kaye said, matched the scratch Ms Price had received when “she attempted to defend herself from your violent attack”.
Barbaro was found guilty at his third jury trial last September, after the first was aborted due to juror misconduct and the second was thrown out so his defense could review new evidence.
As a member of a prominent gangland family, the court was told Barbaro suffered from complex PSTD after a chaotic upbringing and the murder of members of his family.
Judge Kaye told the court that Barbaro and Ms Price started dating in October 2019, with their brief relationship being ‘volatile’ and marred by violence.
Previous incidents of violence, the judge said, provided proof that the ‘serious acts of violence’ on June 29 did not come out of the blue.
Mrs Price was a young mother from Tasmania
Ellie Price’s mother Tracey Gangell fought back tears as she faced the media after Barbaro was convicted of her daughter’s murder.
As details of the violent attack were read to the court, Barbaro showed little emotion and at times closed his eyes, scratched his beard and shifted in his seat.
During the trial, Barbaro’s barrister Rishi Nathwani SC branded the case a ‘whodunit’ and tried to frame brothel owner Mark Gray as an alternative suspect whom police could not investigate.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, argued that Gray was an unhappy romantic who denied being Ms. Price’s sugar daddy.
Barbaro will be eligible for parole after serving 22 years.
Ms Gangell said Barbaro would still have time to enjoy his life if released on parole, while Ms Price’s son – now eight years old – had to live the rest of his life without a mother.
“I don’t think it’s enough,” she added.