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Lawyers for a Melbourne woman with "severe" mental health problems who choked and ultimately killed a man with the cord of a sex toy say she should be jailed for four years in youth detention.
Key points:
- Maulin Rathod, 24, died after being strangled at a home in Melbourne's north-west in July 2018
- The Indian student had contacted Jamie Lee Dolheguy on an online dating app and they met for sex
- Dolheguy's lawyers say she should be jailed for four years in youth detention
It comes as the victim's mother took aim at the killer for "trapping him", and called for justice.
Maulin Rathod, 24, died in hospital after meeting Jamie Lee Dolheguy, who invited him to her home in Sunbury in Melbourne's north-west after the pair exchanged messages on the dating app, Plenty Of Fish, in 2018.
When Mr Rathod, a student from India, arrived at Dolheguy's home, the pair had sex before she put him in a chokehold from behind and whispered: "It'll be okay".
She then strangled him with the cord of a sex toy after becoming worried he would regain consciousness.
Dolheguy, now 20, was found guilty of manslaughter in Victoria's Supreme Court last year and returned to court for a pre-sentencing hearing.
During her trial, the court heard that Dolheguy had profound mental health problems after being abused and neglected as a child, and had a personality disorder.
She also had a history of suicide attempts.
On Monday, the court heard from Mr Rathod's parents, Hiren and Jagruti, who wrote an anguished statement about how their only child's death had profoundly affected their lives.
In a statement read by Crown Prosecutor Patrick Bourke, Mrs Rathod told the court that when the computer arrived in India, her son had spent hours looking at pictures of Australia.
"He was a victim of that girl trapping him," Mrs Rathod said.
The couple were looking forward to seeing their son graduate, but on July 23, 2018, a stranger broke the news that their son had been killed.
"The earth moved from beneath our feet," Mrs Rathod said.
"We felt that everything was over for us. We only had one child … we were alone."
It took 12 days for Mr Rathod's body to be repatriated to India, where he was cremated.
"We were crying uncontrollably," his mother said.
"I ran my hands through Maulin's hair for two hours," she said.
"I just hope that justice is served so this does not happen to anyone else."
As the victim impact statements were read to the court, Dolheguy sat in the dock, wearing pigtails and an oversized black coat, and drew on paper.
The court heard from forensic psychiatrist Dr Andrew Carroll who said Dolheguy had a "dreadful upbringing".
"She has a damaged personality," Dr Carroll said.
"She is grossly immature in terms of psychological development."
He told the court that Dolheguy had a "limited capacity for empathy" and at the time of the killing, she was in an acutely disturbed state of mind.
Dolheguy has spent close to two years in pre-sentence detention, much of it in "close to 23-hour lockdown", the court heard.
Her defence barrister, Sharon Lacy, acknowledged that Mr Rathod's family had suffered in "unfathomable" ways.
"She must of course be justly punished for what she did because an innocent man has died," Ms Lacy said.
"It's conceded that a period of incarceration beyond that which she has already done is absolutely appropriate."
Ms Lacy told the court her client did not have a "flagrant" disregard for the law, but rather broke it due to the "dysfunction" from which she suffers.
"There's no evidence to suggest she intended to hurt him," Ms Lacy said.
She asked Justice Peter Almond to sentence Ms Dolheguy to four years in a youth detention centre.
The hearing continues.
Topics: courts-and-trials, murder-and-manslaughter, internet-technology, mental-health, melbourne-3000, sunbury-3429
First posted