About 15 years before brutally murdering his partner, a killer told a report author that when he "does bad things to people or animals he does not feel bad about it, they deserve it".
Tiffany Spence, a 36-year-old mother of five, was killed by Adam James Britt, 41, in a September 2022 family violence murder. She had made repeated attempts to seek help before her death.
In February 2026, three years after his arrest, and on the day he was set to face a jury trial, Britt pleaded guilty to murder.
When the 41-year-old called paramedics on September 9, 2022, from the Reid unit he shared with Ms Spence, he repeatedly lied about how she had been injured.
He "strategically placed" a hammer in the severely beaten woman's left hand, after saying she had hit herself with the weapon.
Ms Spence was right-handed.
A range of fatal injuries, caused by Britt, were found to have been sustained over a number of days. Her cause of death was found to be blunt force trauma.
Forty per cent of Ms Spence's body surface area involved bruising, abrasions and other injuries. She also suffered a number of fractures and a great deal of blood loss.
In the ACT Supreme Court on Monday, September 28, expert evidence was called to help the court determine whether Britt intended to murder Ms Spence.
According to court documents, Britt pleaded guilty "on the basis that he intended to at least cause serious harm".
Defence barrister Philip Massey has contested the prosecution's case that in fact he intended to kill her.
Psychologist Ahu Kocak said the murderer had anti-social personality traits with sadistic features as well as a tendency to be mistrusting of people "to the point of irrationality".
She told the court that Britt's perceived mistreatment by his mother as a child was "a grievance that dominates him".
During the expert evidence, Britt, who is remanded in custody, leant forward against the dock to write on a piece of paper.
In cross-examination, the psychologist agreed that Britt "exhibits a dangerous attitude to women".
ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Victoria Engel SC asked Ms Kocak if he used violence to control women and if there was a pattern in him blaming the women in his life.
She agreed and said he was "prone to using aggression".
The court heard a separate report, dating back to 2006, found Britt was "fascinated by death, wants to hurt people, [and had] no remorse".
Britt told the 2006 report author that "when he does bad things to people or animals he does not feel bad about it, they deserve it".
Conversations in Britt's home, covertly recorded by police in the weeks after the 2022 murder, were played to the court on Monday.
In one recording Britt yells at a woman and repeatedly calls her a "c---" after she purportedly cut his hair incorrectly.
In another, recorded three weeks after the murder, he swears and makes disparaging remarks about Ms Spence.
In June 2026, Ms Spence's eldest daughter said in a victim impact statement that her mother "was so much more than the way she died".
"[She] was a real person with a heart, a history, and a family who loved her deeply."
Two paramedics who were called to the unit in 2022 also wrote impact statements to the court.
One paramedic quit his job after attending the harrowing scene, and said: "What I saw that night shocked me and has since haunted me."
The hearing continues before Chief Justice Lucy McCallum.
