Emily Woods, AAP
The bloodcurdling screams of a Sandhurst mother’s final moments alive while her estranged husband allegedly hacked her to death in front of their children have been played to a jury.
“Help me, help me,” Nelomi Perera yelled in a recording captured on her watch, which was played to Melbourne’s Supreme Court.
Within 14 minutes of arriving at the family home, prosecutors allege Dinush Kurera had broken through a wooden fence under the cover of darkness, slaughtered his 43-year-old wife and attacked his teenage son as he tried to run away.
Ms Perera was found dead in the kitchen surrounded by a pool of blood.
Prosecutor Mark Gibson KC told 14 jurors on Tuesday that when police arrived, Kurera allegedly told them: “I killed my wife. She’s dead over there.”
However, Kurera has pleaded not guilty to both his wife’s murder and to assaulting his son.
Dressed in a black suit, the 47-year-old sat in the dock at the back of the court as he faced the first day of his trial.
Mr Gibson alleged Kurera, dressed in dark clothing, wearing gloves and wielding a hatchet he purchased at Bunnings earlier that day, hit his estranged wife in the head as she was smoking on the Sandhurst property’s patio about 11.25pm on December 3, 2022.
He had days earlier arrived home from Sri Lanka. Mr Gibson alleged Ms Perera ended their marriage while he was away after discovering he was being unfaithful.
The prosecutor said Kurera could not accept his marriage was over and he might lose the house he built for his family.
The couple’s children, a 17-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl, heard screaming from downstairs and ran to find their father holding an axe and their mother on the floor, Mr Gibson said.
He allegedly told the teens if they called police or tried to leave he would set fire to the home and kill everyone including himself, Mr Gibson said.
Ms Perera got up and showed her daughter her head injuries, before pointing to a pool of blood on the floor, he said.
She allegedly tried to reason with her husband to call an ambulance, but Kurera instead told his son to get Ms Perera an ice pack and said he wanted to talk on the couch.
While the estranged family sat in the living room, Kurera asked his children if their mother was seeing anyone else, to which the son said “a few people”, Mr Gibson said.
“This comment said by (the boy) to his father about his mother infuriated the accused,” the prosecutor told the jury.
“Mr Kurera approached Nelomi and struck her multiple times.”
He alleged Kurera’s “sustained, brutal and vicious attack” left her with 35 wounds to vulnerable parts of her body from both the hatchet and a chef’s knife taken from the kitchen.
Their son tried to run outside and call for help, but Kurera allegedly chased him and hit the teen to the back of his head, shoulders and legs with the hatchet, Mr Gibson said.
He said Kurera later told police Ms Perera tried to stab him and “I just wanted to talk to her”.
Mr Gibson will continue to deliver his openings on Wednesday, followed by a response from Kurera’s defence team, as the trial continues.
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