A Sydney woman who murdered a former boyfriend by crushing him against a wall with a car, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for what a judge called a "fatal explosion of emotion".
Jackline Sabana Bona Musa, 47, was found guilty by a jury last year after a trial in the NSW Supreme Court over the June 2020 death of Payman "Paul" Thagipur.
The court heard Musa received no response to a heartfelt text message one morning and drove around looking for Mr Thagipur, before going to his Wentworth Point apartment.
There, she found another woman in his bed, spat in his face and left.
In the building's car park, Musa fatally pinned Mr Thagipur against a wall after driving at him in a Toyota Kluger.
Justice Richard Button on Friday said Musa and the victim had been in a romantic relationship, but its true nature was somewhat unclear.
What was clear, he said, was that Musa's feelings for Mr Thagipur were much stronger than his.
The judge found she "spontaneously" formed an intention to inflict serious harm in a matter of seconds.
"His final ordeal was short, but terrifying, and he surely died in enormous pain," Justice Button said in sentencing.
"What occurred was a deeply self-centred imposition of violence on a fellow human being."
Musa was handed a maximum term of 20 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 14 years.
The court was told the crime is an example of what was once known as a "crime of passion", but the judge said modern Australia regards that terminology as "utterly out of date".
"Modern Australia, I believe, expects a person disappointed and upset by romantic matters to deal with those emotions maturely and certainly without harming others, whether emotionally or physically," he said.
"Australian society and Australian criminal courts firmly condemn domestic violence of any kind, committed by a person of any gender, let alone fatal domestic violence."
The court heard Musa grew up in a village in Sudan in "poverty-stricken circumstances" with no running water.
Justice Button noted on many occasions she was in fear of death and endured many traumatic experiences until moving to Australia as a refugee in 2004.
He said she had never found "settled happiness in love" and had an underlying sense of worthlessness.
The court was told that a life was taken "simply because a fellow human being was exercising autonomy in romantic matters", and Musa had shown no remorse.
"To be weighed against those matters — after an early life of great deprivation and disruption — the offender made a successful fresh start in this country, something especially to her credit in light of the psychological problems that had been inflicted upon on her," the judge said.
"They played their part in this fatal explosion of emotion."
Musa will be eligible for parole in June 2034.
