Vic: Kill plot motivated by revenge: court
By Melissa Iaria26 Feb 2009 5:05 PM
Eds: The parties cannot be identified for legal reasons.
MELBOURNE, Feb 26 AAP - A Melbourne woman plotted to kill her stepfather in revenge for sexually abusing her daughter, a court has been told.
A Victorian Supreme Court jury heard the 32-year-old woman learned her stepfather had assaulted her 12-year-old daughter in 2007.
The woman would later tell her lover "the dirty dog must die" and then hired an undercover officer posing as a hitman to kill her stepfather.
On Tuesday, a jury found the woman guilty of incitement to murder.
Defence lawyer Tim Walsh told a pre-sentence hearing his client was motivated by parental instinct.
"It was the protective instinct of a parent that manifests itself in the ultimate form of revenge," he said.
Mr Walsh said the woman was understandably angry and disgusted by what had happened.
He asked the judge to consider wholly or partly suspending her jail term.
The jury heard the woman reported her stepfather to police after learning of the abuse and he was charged.
She would later say she never liked him and wanted him dead.
The jury heard she told the undercover officer: "I am disgusted and I want him done."
Mr Walsh asked the judge to order a psychiatric report on his client.
Crown prosecutor Gabriele Cannon said the woman's crime was premeditated and needed to be denounced.
Ms Cannon said the maximum penalty for the offence was life in jail.
Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth adjourned the pre-sentence hearing to a date to be fixed.
