A woman who killed her sleeping husband in their Murrumbateman home did so with intent and calculation in order to escape an allegedly abusive relationship, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The NSW Supreme Court trial of Dale Lee Vella, 54, entered its ninth day on Thursday as the prosecution and defence presented their closing addresses.
"She shot him because she wanted to remove him from the family, because she felt he was emotionally abusing her," prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe told jurors.
"She wanted to kill him."
Ms Ratcliffe directly contradicted the defence case that Vella was substantially mentally impaired when she killed her husband of 23 years, Mark Vella, on the evening of August 9, 2021.
Vella immediately admitted on the night in question to fatally shooting the man from close range with a double-barrel shotgun. Defence barrister Greg Hoare did not deny the claim throughout the two-week trial.
"Mrs Vella is not attempting to escape responsibility for what she did," Mr Hoare said on Thursday.
"She took a human life. She took her husband's life."
On Thursday, the prosecutor disputed the defence argument that Vella was so impaired it downgraded her liability.
Ms Ratcliffe said the alleged offender was in control, understood events and knew her actions were wrong on the night of the incident.
"She may have felt justified in doing what she did," the prosecutor said, referencing Vella's comments that her deceased husband could no longer hurt the family.
"But that does not provide her with an excuse at law for doing what she did."
The court previously heard from the defence that Vella had for many years been subject to "coercive control" perpetrated by her husband.
The accused has claimed she intended to shoot herself before instead turning the gun on her husband.
In his closing address, Mr Hoare replayed the "suicide" note video Vella recorded for her children on the morning of the shooting, in which she claimed long-running emotional abuse and said: "I'm sorry, I just can't live like this anymore."
"If that is a deception, that is an Academy Award-winning performance," Mr Hoare said. "If you believe this was all just a pretence, that this video was fake, then convict her of murder."
The barrister said the notion that his client had lied about having no memory of the shooting to bolster her defence was "complete and utter rubbish".
Mr Hoare opened his closing address by asking jurors to put aside the consideration Vella was substantially impaired by serotonin toxicity caused by the mixture of herbal and pharmaceutical antidepressants.
The argument was a major part of Vella's defence but was disputed by every medical expert who took the witness stand.
Ms Ratcliffe also told jurors the verdict should be reached on evidence alone.
"You must not let sympathy or emotion influence your verdict," she said on Thursday.
She finished her address by telling the jury if it was not convinced of Vella's partial defence, "you must convict of murder".
Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
