Ricardo Dasilva, a resident of New South Wales’ Central Coast, was sentenced to at least 18 years in prison for killing Amanda Carter, a teacher at Wyong High School.
In May 2010, the 66-year-old real estate agent killed his ex-fiancée by breaking into her house and beating her to death while she was in bed, the court was told.
The attack on Ms. Carter was described as “frenzied” by Supreme Court Judge Ian Harrison, who also noted that the 46-year-face old’s was “unrecognizably bruised” when her daughter discovered her body.
According to testimony given in court, Dasilva harassed Amanda Carter for months after their relationship ended by breaking into her home, following her, and mailing slanderous letters to both her place of employment and the media.
The maximum penalty for Dasilva was 24 years.
Ricardo Dasilva, a resident of New South Wales’ Central Coast, was sentenced to at least 18 years in prison for killing Amanda Carter, a teacher at Wyong High School.
In May 2010, the 66-year-old real estate agent killed his ex-fiancée by breaking into her house and beating her to death while she was in bed, the court was told.
Judge Ian Harrison of the Supreme Court called the assault on Ms. Carter as “crazed,” stating that the 46-year-old was “pummeled so ferociously
He won’t be eligible for parole until at least 2031 because of the time already served.
The killing, according to Justice Harrison, was “brutal, planned, and mindless,” and Dasilva had shown no remorse for his deeds.
“In the end, Mr. Dasilva’s violent determination to kill Ms. Carter resulted from Ms. Carter’s refusal to renew the connection.
“Ultimately, Ms Carter’s refusal to resume the relationship erupted in Mr Dasilva’s violent decision to kill her,” Justice Harrison said.
Outside court, Amanda Carter’s son Shaun welcomed the sentence, which will see Dasilva behind bars until he’s at least 82.
“It’s alright, I guess, he’ll be pretty old by then,” he said.
During the sentencing, Justice Harrison noted the rising number of domestic violence-related murders in Australia.
“It is now an unfortunate and reoccurring fact that women in intimate relationships with men appear increasingly to be subjected to violence that all too often either leads to or includes their death,” he said.
When Ricardo Dasilva was sentenced in court, his ex-girlfriend Linda Martin testified that she had also suffered domestic abuse at his hands.
What happened to him today makes Ms. Martin “very happy that he got what he deserved because it puts him in jail where he can’t harm any other women,” she added.
“There’s been so many examples where he has assaulted women and he’d been violent in the past.”
He has already said he will to challenge his conviction.
The jury was informed during the four-week trial that Ms. Carter had ended her relationship with Dasilva after learning she suspected he was having an affair, but she claimed she continued to get unexpected visits from him.
In a victim impact statement that was presented to the court by two of Ms. Carter’s children, Jaime, who was 18 at the time of the murder, described discovering her mother’s deformed body.
She claimed in the statement that although her mother had missed the birth of her first grandchild in 2015, she had always wanted to be called grandmama.
Sources:
