A 44-year-old woman will spend at least 12 years behind bars after being sentenced to life in prison for stabbing her former partner to death during a drunken argument in WA’s far north.
Carolyn Jody Gore was found guilty of murdering the 39-year-old man at a house in Kununurra in June 2015.
The Supreme Court was told the pair was drinking when a physical fight broke out after the victim stole money from Gore.
She grabbed a knife and stabbed him three times, including once to the chest.
At her trial, Gore claimed she acted in self-defence because she believed the man was going to assault her, but the jury rejected her claim.
The court heard when Gore and the victim were in a relationship she was “regularly physically and verbally assaulted” by him, but they remained friends after they separated and she provided him with money, food and accommodation.
Deterrent sentence
Gore, who has a long history of alcohol abuse, has numerous serious health problems including heart disease, high blood pressure and kidney failure, for which she receives dialysis in Midland and is shackled throughout the appointments.
Justice Lindy Jenkins described the crime as serious, saying, while the victim had assaulted and provoked Gore, his actions “were not such as to justify” what she did.
Justice Jenkins also said a “deterrent” sentence was needed because there was “far too much drunken violence in the Kimberley”.
However, Justice Jenkins accepted Gore was unlikely to be a threat to the safety of the community when she is released, and said the “unusual and exceptional circumstances” of the case, including Gore’s ill-health, meant a lower-than-usual minimum term of 12 years should be imposed.
With time already served Gore’s earliest release date is in 2027.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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