Jealous dad murders wife in front of children weeks after starting new life | World | News

A Samoan father of five, consumed by ‘morbid jealousy’ over unfounded suspicion that his wife was having an affair with his brother, brutally stabbed his wife to death in a frenzied knife attack.

Rimoni Muliaga, 44, repeatedly stabbed Lise Muliaga, 37, with a large kitchen knife in the garden of her brother’s bungalow in Melton South on the outskirts of Melbourne on September 18, 2023, just weeks after the family moved from New Zealand.

Three young children, aged 12, seven and five, witnessed the horrific attack and its shocking consequences.

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On Wednesday, Victoria Supreme Court Justice James Gorton condemned Muliaga for murder.

“You stabbed your wife, Lise, multiple times with a kitchen knife. You did this in the backyard of your brother’s house, in front of your children,” he told Muliaga.

“You stabbed her because you mistakenly believed she was having an affair with your brother.”

The judge described the murder as ‘the most serious act of domestic violence against an innocent and unarmed woman’, which ‘requires serious condemnation’.

Muliaga had argued with his wife that morning after accusing her of the affair; He had had this suspicion for some time, although it was completely unfounded.

After returning from a walk, the argument escalated in the bungalow where her three children were located.

The court was told Muliaga attacked his wife with a knife and stabbed her four times, twice in the right shoulder, once in the upper left chest and once in the left breast.

The fatal injury involved a 3-inch blade taken to the upper chest, severing two ribs, severing two major blood vessels, causing severe blood loss, puncturing the chest cavity and damaging a lung.

Ms Muliaga had fought for her life, suffering defensive stab wounds to her arms as she desperately tried to fend him off.

“It was a horrific and violent death,” Judge Gorton said.

The court heard how one of the couple’s young daughters ran into the main house screaming.

When family members hurried to the backyard, they found Ms. Muliaga sitting on the ground, bleeding heavily, with the knife still on her shoulder.

Muliaga was seen standing over him.

His sister-in-law shouted at him, questioning his actions.

The killer fled up the street but later claimed: ‘Lise and (her brother) were sleeping together.’

Muliaga’s brother dialed triple zero and performed CPR, but although he briefly revived a heartbeat, Ms. Muliaga was pronounced dead at 2.33 p.m.

Muliaga was captured nearby, his hands still bloody.

The court was informed that he repeatedly asked the police for his ‘mental health medication’ and stated that he had not taken it since the previous day.

Judge Gorton noted that Muliaga appeared genuinely shocked and distraught when he learned of his wife’s death, even wanting to telephone her. A jury found Muliaga guilty of murder in December after a trial in which he admitted stabbing but disputed his intent.

Judge Gorton convicted Muliaga of stabbing his wife with the intention of ‘causing actual serious injury’, regardless of whether she survived or died.

The judge stated that the attack was spontaneous, not planned, but completely unprovoked.

Judge Gorton said the fact that the three children witnessed the brutal death of their mother was an aggravating circumstance that increased the objective seriousness of the crime.

The court heard Muliaga was born in Samoa in 1981, one of nine siblings, and had a troubled childhood that included physical abuse.

The court heard Muliaga had a low IQ of just 61, which puts him in the lowest 0.5 per cent of the population and meets the threshold for intellectual disability, as well as having impaired executive function and inflexible thinking.

He had a history of mental health problems, including depression with psychotic features and a previous diagnosis of schizophrenia in New Zealand.

A forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Muliaga concluded that Muliaga was suffering from a major depressive disorder rather than schizophrenia.

While the court ruled that this reduced his moral culpability, Judge Gorton emphasized that it did not exonerate the crime. Judge Gorton stated that Muliaga understood his actions were wrong. The court heard Muliaga’s history of violent behavior towards Lise; these included one occasion when his brother found him on top of her, and another occasion when his sister-in-law saw him with her hand around his neck.

Her children, who are now trying to cope with the help of their family, gave victim impact statements describing how they faced life without their mother and the trauma of knowing their father killed her.

Muliaga, who is not an Australian citizen, is expected to be deported after his release.

Judge Gorton sentenced Muliaga to 24 years in prison with a non-parole period of 18 years and 6 months.

He has already served 919 days in pre-sentence detention.