A woman who viciously bashed her de facto father-in-law to death because she needed money for drugs has been jailed for 27 years.
Danielle Birchall, 49, closed her eyes as Victorian Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale handed down her sentence for the “savage” murder on Friday morning.
Lara Birchall stated that her visit to Kon Kritikos’ residence in Coburg on November 11, 2020, was solely for the purpose of having a conversation.
Justice Beale determined Birchall must not have known Mr Kritikos was still alive when she left, otherwise she never would have returned with her partner later that evening.
He also rejected the theory that she intended to steal from the elderly man while he was asleep.
“You arrived around 3.45pm when you knew he was likely to be awake,” Justice Beale said.
The judge noted Birchall continued to deny responsibility for the murder so she had not shown any signs of remorse.
He was also guarded about her prospects of rehabilitation after finding she held a moderate risk of reoffending.
Justice Beale accepted Birchall suffered profound abuse as a child which left her with lasting mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
Those conditions would make her time in custody more difficult, the judge said, which mitigated her overall sentence.
Birchall was jailed for 27 years with a non-parole period of 20 years, but she has already served close to four years behind bars.
