An international businesswoman who murdered her married lover and indebted employee, stabbing him in the heart after learning of an affair, has been jailed for at least 12 years.
Jenny Niguidula stabbed 53-year-old Rhonie Apostol with a kitchen knife on November 17, 2019 after the pair furiously argued outside Sydney's international airport a week earlier.
The 47-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which prosecutors rejected, and was found guilty of murder by a jury in June.
Justice Hament Dhanji sentenced her to a total of 16 years on Monday, but said the sentence will do nothing for Mr Apostol’s family.
“They have lost, far too soon, and entirely unjustly, a man they held dear,” he said.
Niguidula had also been violent towards Mr Apostol’s brother-in-law, whom she married in 2009 before divorcing in 2015.
Mr Apostol worked at the New York-based market research company she ran after migrating from the Philippines to the United States.
She told police their sexual relationship began in 2011 and she had suffered a miscarriage while pregnant with his child in 2018.
"Whatever the precise status of the relationship with Mr Apostol at the time of his death, it is plain that she had hoped to share her life with him," the judge said.
Niguidula might question the value of imprisoning her, but domestic violence offenders need deterrence, he added.
There was evidence Mr Apostol had sought to end his relationship and employment with Niguidula and return to his wife, before she stabbed him in the chest, the judge said.
The knife entered between the ribs and faced little resistance beyond the skin, experts told the court.
Others gave evidence about severe borderline personality disorder impairing Niguidula's ability to reason and consider the consequences of her actions at the time.
The judge was not satisfied she was substantially impaired, which the jury also rejected when it found her guilty of murder.
However, her mental condition contributed, along with a fluctuating but heightened emotional state after she learned of the affair.
Justice Dhanji found Niguidula’s mental disorders lowered the moral culpability of her crime, but the intimate aspects of the relationship increased its objective gravity.
She did not intend to cause Mr Apostol anything more than grievous bodily harm when she impulsively stabbed him once in the chest in the context of a heightened emotional state, the judge said.
However, he found Mr Apostol vulnerable and had a degree of dependence on Niguidula: his boss he was in an intimate relationship with and whom he owed money, who then killed him.
The judge said Niguidula was remorseful about being responsible for Mr Apostol's death, while not necessarily accepting guilt for his murder.
"The fact that she desisted after the single stab wound was inflicted, attempted to dress the wound and (after some delay) sought help, supports a finding she immediately, or at least very soon after, regretted her actions," he said.
Niguidula was also convicted of assaulting Mr Apostol with a lamp in the days before his death. However, no further penalty was imposed.
She has been in custody since her arrest in December 2019.
The judge sentenced her to a total of 16 years with a non-parole period of 12 years.
Niguidula will be eligible for parole in December 2031.
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