Steven Samaras has been sentenced to 11 years' jail for the manslaughter of his fiancee Tamara Turner, who was abandoned with a gunshot wound to the abdomen in the Mildura Base Hospital in June 2016.
Key points:
- Ms Turner was from the United States and moved to Australia to be with him after meeting him online
- She was fatally wounded when a gun was discharged during a fight between the pair in a caravan they were sharing
- At the time of Ms Turner's death, the pair were on the run after failing to appear in court on weapons charges
"The death of Tamara Turner is a tragedy which was entirely avoidable," Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tinney said in sentencing.
Samaras, 50, will have to serve eight years in prison before being eligible for parole.
The court previously heard the pair had met online in October 2015 and, after a couple of hours of chatting on Facebook, Samaras had proposed to Ms Turner, 49.
It heard Ms Turner's family was surprised about her decision to leave her home in the United States to move to Australia, and had limited contact with her after she flew to Melbourne in late 2015.
Gun fired during fight
At the time of Ms Turner's death, she and Samaras were on the run after failing to turn up to court to answer weapons charges, and camping in bushland about an hour south of Mildura, in Victoria's north-west.
Ms Turner had worked for a gun supplier in her home state of Missouri before she left, and had sent four weapons to Samaras via the post.
Three of those weapons were intercepted by the Australian Border Force and were the reason for the weapons charges against the pair.
The fourth weapon — a Bersa "Firestorm" .380-calibre pistol — was the one that killed Ms Turner.
The court heard Ms Turner was wounded when the gun was discharged during a fight inside a caravan the pair shared.
Justice Tinney said he was sentencing Samaras on the basis that he had not intended to shoot Ms Turner.
But he said in discharging the firearm, Samaras had committed a "conscious, voluntary and deliberate act" that was both unlawful and dangerous.
"A reasonable person in the position of [Samaras] would have realised that he was exposing Ms Turner to an appreciable risk of serious injury," Justice Tinney said.
"There is no question that your offence was a very serious one."
Killer gave false name at hospital
The court heard Ms Turner was shot about 2:00am and Samaras dropped her at the Mildura Base Hospital about 7:00am.
Samaras later told police Ms Turner did not want him to call an ambulance because they were fugitives.
When a nurse at the hospital asked what had happened to Ms Turner, Samaras was said to have replied: "I don't know, I just found her like this."
He told the nurse he found her at a Mildura hotel where he was staying.
Samaras gave a false name to nurses at the hospital and had false plates on his vehicle.
After leaving Ms Turner at the hospital, Samaras returned to the campsite, packed up and drove to Melbourne.
Samaras contacted Ms Turner's children via Facebook on the day she died, telling them: "Mum passed away, I miss her so much."
'She's missed everyday'
In sentencing, Justice Tinney referred to five victim impact statements from members of Ms Turner's family that were tendered to a plea hearing for Samaras.
"The tragic consequences of your crime upon the family of Ms Turner — made all the more sad by the fact she died in a location far away from her home and her loved ones — cannot be overstated," Justice Tinney said.
Ms Tinney's daughter, Natasha Smith, gave evidence at the plea hearing via video link from Missouri.
"I'll never be able to pick up the phone and hear her voice or see her smiling face," Ms Smith said.
"She was a good person and she's missed everyday."
In a statement read to the court at the plea hearing, Ms Turner's son, Chuck Smith, told of his pain when his mother's body was lost in transit to the US and he was unable to find her at the airport.
"I was denied [seeing her] for two more days," he said.
"I have so much anger and hate in my heart. I had to hold myself together but I wanted to let myself go."
Samaras was originally charged with the murder of Ms Turner but pleaded guilty to her manslaughter a month before his murder trial was due to start in September last year.
Justice Tinney said if Samaras had not pleaded guilty, he would have sentenced him to 13 years' jail, with a minimum of 10 years.
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