Canberra man Josaia Vosikata will spend at least 18 years and four months in jail for the murder of his former partner Daniela D'Addario, whose body was found in the boot of a car on the South Coast.
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Vosikata, 29, nodded but did not otherwise react when Justice John Burns sentenced him to a maximum of 22 years and 10 months imprisonment in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday.
Vosikata strangled his ex-girlfriend to death in her Bruce apartment on April 19 last year before he shoved her body in the boot of a car and drove to the South Coast.
The pair's disappearance sparked a massive search throughout the ACT and South Coast before Vosikata was captured near Bermagui on April 23.
Court documents revealed Vosikata became increasingly obsessed with the 35-year-old after she ended their two-month relationship in March last year and sent her dozens of text messages in the days before the murder.
Ms D'Addario repeatedly asked him to stop harassing her, but the messages continued.
Nine days before the murder, he allegedly went to her apartment and attempted to molest her as she slept, the documents said.
Three days before the murder, Vosikata had searched the internet for information about chemicals to knock people out, how to kill and how to break in, the documents show.
He continued searching the internet the next day including for "videos of girls being raped" and how to open locked doors.
On the morning of April 19, Vosikata went to his former girlfriend's apartment.
Once inside, he strangled her to death and indecently interfered with her corpse, the documents said.
He later admitted killing Ms D'Addario in a police interview. Vosikata pleaded guilty to murder in March
After the murder, Vosikata went home, had lunch with his mother and watched TV, before returning to the apartment in the early hours of April 20.
He had planned to take her body to the south coast and had searched the internet for information about Batemans Bay, murder and suicide.
At a sentencing hearing in October, ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White urged the court to impose the maximum sentence of life imprisonment for the murder and Vosikata's "premeditated conduct of revenge".
"The obsession he held for the victim led him to kill her.
"A very vibrant ... young woman has been taken in the prime of her life and that has left her family devastated."
Defence lawyer Paul Edmonds said, while a lengthy sentence was inevitable, a life sentence wasn't the only option and Vosikata wasn't beyond reform.
Mr Edmonds agreed Vosikata had been "utterly obsessed" with his former girlfriend and said he "lost control" after it dawned on him they weren't getting back together.
"What's conceded, Your Honour, is a quite pathetic scenario of the accused not being able to accept the relationship was over."
However, he said the killing, while "heinous", was not in the worst category.
Ms D'Addario's sister said in a victim impact statement she would never be able to forgive Vosikata for the "despicable and shameful acts" he committed, "no matter how remorseful or sorry he claims to be".
She had believed Vosikata should be jailed for life, but told the court: "No sentence you hand out will bring my sister back."