A man who stabbed his girlfriend to death, and was then left as a quadriplegic after trying to take his own life, has died of sepsis, a coroner ruled.
Michael Quinn was jailed after murdering Cherie Vize, 25, by knifing her five times in the neck in the front yard of his home in Wollongong, in New South Wales, in July, 2013.
After the attack he then cut his spinal cord as he tried to commit suicide and was left as a quadriplegic.
The 31-year-old died at the Prince of Wales Hospital, in Sydney, on April 1, 2020, while serving a maximum of 20 years for the murder.
He was found guilty of killing Ms Vize in a judge-alone trial in 2016 and his sentence was due to expire in September 2035.
Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes said on Wednesday that Quinn died of natural causes, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Following the month-long trial in 2016, NSW Supreme Court Justice Robert Beech-Jones said: "Ms Vize was a peaceful person. Her passing has caused much sadness to her family and friends."
Quinn and Ms Vize had an off-and-on relationship and the court heard that he reacted violently when he found out that she had met another man via an online dating site.
“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that, at least from the time the accused obtained a knife from the kitchen, he not only intended to deliberately stab Ms Vize, he also intended to kill himself,” Justice Beech-Jones said at the time.
The judge said that the evidence suggested he had been "brooding" for several days.
Now the Coroner's Court has said that the incident leading to his imprisonment was "both tragic and traumatic".
Ms Forbes said: “The cause of his death was sepsis.
“The underlying conditions were urosepsis and pneumonia as a result of C3 incomplete tetraplegia.”
The advocate assisting the coroner, Howard Mullen, said Quinn suffered a catastrophic injury when he attempted to take his own life.
When he was imprisoned Quinn reportedly had incomplete quadriplegia, obesity, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder. He went on to be diagnosed with other conditions including sleep apnoea, osteoporosis, severe spasticity and recurrent urinary tract infections.
