WA: Rejected husband kills wife who refused to take him back

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2006
WA: Rejected husband kills wife who refused to take him back

By Liza Kappelle

PERTH, Aug 29 AAP - A Perth man stabbed his estranged wife more than 50 times before
bashing in her skull with a cricket bat when she refused to take him back, a court has
heard.

Illiterate wool industry worker Leslie Shortte, 57, was today sentenced to life imprisonment
by the West Australian Supreme Court for the wilful murder of Kylie Jane Shortte, 45,
on December 29, 2005.

Shortte earlier pleaded guilty to killing his wife of 12 years just three weeks after
she told him to leave because she no longer loved him.

The sentencing hearing today was told Shortte spent the three weeks drinking and brooding
over his wife's suspected infidelity before going to their Bibra Lake home to beg her
to take him back.

Prosecutor Sandra Demaio told the court Shortte took along a length of coaxial cable
and a gardening glove intending to "give her a couple of whacks" if she refused.

But instead he punched her in the face, dragged her by the hair to an ensuite bathroom
and stabbed her with a pair of open scissors, causing 110 mostly superficial wounds to
her arms, back and legs.

"He said that she was crying, but he just could not stop," Ms Demaio said.

Shortte then dragged his wife to the foyer near the front door where he picked up a
cricket bat and bashed her six times in the head, killing her.

The court was told the blows were so hard the bat split.

Ms Shortte's hands were fractured and two of her fingertips were severed as she tried
to ward off the blows that fractured her skull, lacerating her brain.

Justice Geoffrey Miller told Shortte he had committed "a shocking crime, a brutal senseless
crime".

"She must have suffered a terrible death," the judge said.

The judge told the sobbing man he accepted his remorse was genuine.

But he also considered victim impact statements such as one from Ms Shortte's 21-year-old
son, who found his mother's body and still suffered nightmares.

Justice Miller sentenced Shortte to life in prison with a minimum of 17 years to be
served before parole.

Outside the court Detective Sargeant Brett Randford said Ms Shortte's family were devastated
but the result had given them some closure.

"It is an end of a sad chapter of their lives," he said.

AAP lk/sp

KEYWORD: SHORTTE NIGHTLEAD

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