A man who murdered a prominent Melbourne interior decorator he'd been in a relationship with for 16 years has been jailed for 18 years with a minimum of 13.

Victorian Supreme Court judge Elizabeth Hollingworth said Michael Anthony O'Neill, 48, had 'snapped' and killed Stuart Rattle in the heat of the moment after Mr Rattle called him a frigid bitch.

O'Neill spent five days pretending nothing had happened, telling friends and co-workers Mr Rattle was feeling unwell, before setting fire to their South Yarra apartment.

Justice Hollingworth said O'Neill had trouble coming to terms with the fact he had killed the man he loved.

'There's plenty of evidence that you are devastated by what you have done,' Justice Hollingworth said.

O'Neill admitted to killing Mr Rattle by bludgeoning him over the head with a pan then strangling him with a dog leash after police found inconsistencies in his original story - that Mr Rattle had died in the fire. Mr Rattle begged O'Neill for his life, saying 'Michael don't do this', as he was strangled, Justice Hollingworth said.

The couple had a tense relationship and Mr Rattle would often complain about O'Neill to their friends, saying he didn't satisfy him sexually, she said.

'He would call you lazy, a parasite, he threatened to send you back to where you came from.'

But she added this in no way justified O'Neill's actions.

Mr Rattle's family said in witness impact statements his death left an enormous hole in their lives.

The rest is here:
Victorian killer jailed for 18 years

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February 21, 2015 at 5:52 pm by Mr HomeBuilder
Category: Interior Decorator