Former Bandido bikie Lionel Patea has been sentenced to life in prison for the bashing murder of his ex-partner Tara Brown on the Gold Coast.
Supreme Court Justice Debra Mullins handed down the decision a short time ago after Patea, 25, pleaded guilty this morning.
Patea showed no emotion in the packed courtroom as Justice Mullins recounted the details of his attack on Ms Brown.
“Ms Brown lost her life in your hands in a brutal way,” Justice Mullins told the court.
“Ms Brown was the fatal victim of your domestic violence. She lost her life at your hands in a traumatic and brutal way.
“She will not now have the joy of seeing her daughter grow up or fulfil the promise of the life that she had led until she was killed by you.”
Ms Brown’s mother Natalie Hinton was crying quietly as she heard how Patea thumped her daughter’s head and pushed away people who tried to stop him.
Earlier, the court heard how Patea ran Ms Brown’s car off a road at Molendinar on the Gold Coast in September 2015.
She was trapped in her upturned car and Patea bashed her with a metal plate.
The 24-year-old mother of one died a day later in hospital.
Patea and Ms Brown had been in a relationship since 2011 and had a daughter in 2012.
The court heard how Patea chased Ms Brown at high speed through the Gold Coast after she dropped their daughter at day care.
Patea turned himself in to police about 30 minutes after the attack with self-inflicted stab wounds and told police about “doing something bad”.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
© 2017 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Read the ABC Disclaimer here.