Jessica Silva has been found not guilty of murdering but guilty of the manslaughter of her abusive, drug-affected ex-partner on Mother's Day two years ago.
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The 24-year-old put her head in her hands and sobbed after the verdict was announced in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday. She began hyperventilating and lay on the ground in the dock.
The verdict came soon after the jury of seven men and five women told the Chief Judge at Common Low, Clifton Hoeben, they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
After giving the jury further directions, they returned with the verdict. They had deliberated for more than 24 hours over six days.
The courtroom was packed with family and friends of Ms Silva and the victim, James Polkinghorne.
Ms Silva's family and friends wailed and sobbed. Sherrifs urged both families to calm down.
Crown Prosecutor Eric Balodis said he did not oppose bail and it was continued on the same conditions.
Justice Hoeben said Ms Silva faced a "spectrum" of sentences from non-custodial to a prison sentence.
Ms Silva and several relatives and friends began sobbing as she waited for the jury to file into the courtroom.
While Judge Hoeben had given Ms Silva dispensation to sit next to her lawyer during the trial, she sat in the dock as the verdict was handed down.
During the wait, her father, Avalino, said to Mr Polkinghorne's mother: "I will never forgive you" and "You could have stopped this".
Ms Silva told him to stop and a sherrif took him outside so he could compose himself.
Ms Silva was charged with murdering Mr Polkinghorne by stabbing him five times outside the Silva family home on May 13, 2012. She pleaded not guilty on the grounds on self-defence.
Mr Polkinghorne had turned up to Ms Silva's parents' house in an ice-fuelled rage threatening to "cave her head in" shortly after 9pm. He got into a scuffle with Ms Silva's brother Miguel and her father Avalino.
Ms Silva allegedly went into the house and returned with a knife before stabbing him up to five times.
The case was seen as a test of how far a victim of domestic violence can be pushed before she can kill in self-defence.
The court heard Ms Silva had endured confronting, shocking abuse from Mr Polkinghorne during their four-year relationship.
In the days before his death, he was staying in a city hotel and using methylamphetamine, known as crystal meth or ice. He repeatedly tried to get back with Ms Silva, which she refused.
Two hours before Mr Polkinghorne was fatally stabbed outside the Marrickville home, Ms Silva, 24, was recorded in a phone call to her brother saying that her on-again-off-again partner was a "f---ing psycho" and she was going to "f---ing stab him myself".
In an interview with detectives in the hours after the stabbing, Ms Silva said she thought Mr Polkinghorne had a gun and would kill her.
"I wasn't trying to kill him... I just didn't want him to hurt me anymore," she said.
"I know for a fact he was coming to kill me, because he told me.
"I know he has killed before. I was scared; he's a psycho."
smh.com.au
