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Quadriplegic sentenced to 15 years for killing girlfriend

Cherie Vize died after her boyfriend stabbed her in the neck.

Cherie Vize died after her boyfriend stabbed her in the neck. Photo: Facebook: In loving memory of Cherie Vize

A Wollongong man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death outside his parents’ home has been sentenced to 20 years in jail with a non-parole period of 15 years.

Michael James Quinn was left a quadriplegic after turning the knife on himself during the frenzied 2013 attack.

He will be eligible for parole in September 2030.

The 25-year-old victim Cherie Vize had broken up with him days before she was murdered.

In handing down his sentence, Justice Robert Beech-Jones said: “This case is an extreme example of the domestic violence inflicted on women.”

Michael James Quinn quadriplegic

Michael James Quinn in court in September.

Outside court, Ms Vize’s mother told ABC news she was “relieved that it’s all over”.

Quinn was convicted of murder in September,despite his lawyers’ argument he had only intended to harm himself and accidentally stabbed his girlfriend during a struggle.

Quinn’s trial heard he phoned Ms Vize 227 times in the 11 days before he killed her, and that he rang her family home so often that Ms Vize’s mother had to disconnect their phone.

The court was also told Quinn had been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder in 2007.

Psychiatric evidence showed Quinn also suffered a borderline personality disorder, but doctors could not determine what was going through his mind at the time of the stabbing or whether any planning was involved.

During sentencing submissions last month, Quinn’s defence barrister Janet Manuell said her client had punished himself more than a court could, and he would “be for the rest of his life imprisoned within his body”.

– ABC

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