A revengeful and anger-fuelled father who stabbed his daughter to death in payback to his ex-partner has been sentenced to life in prison.
Ramazan Acar, 24, taunted his ex-partner, Rachelle D'Argent, on the night he killed their daughter, Yazmina, 2, by text messaging, Facebook status updates and phone calls.
In the Supreme Court this afternoon, Justice Elizabeth Curtain said the crime was one of the worst murders.
She said given the nature and gravity of the crime, life in prison was the only appropriate sentence.
In sentencing, Justice Curtain said Acar had subjected Ms D'Argent to a chilling telephone call with her daughter on the night he killed her last November.
He told Ms D'Argent he was going to kill 'Mimi' before putting her on the phone.
The girl said to her mother “I love you” to which her mother replied “I love you too”.
The court heard Acar had posted on Facebook “Bout 2 kill ma kid” before he actually did so. He then posted “payback u slut”.
Justice Curtain said Ms D'Argent had been brave in reading her victim impact statement to the court last month.
She said there was no doubt that doing so was a testament to her daughter.
Justice Curtain said Acar was so consumed by hatred and a desire to punish his ex-partner that all other considerations fell by the wayside on the night of his crime.
She said the murder was a fundamental breach of trust that a father had with a child and the crime had been committed for the worst possible motives – revenge and spite.
Justice Curtain said despite Acar's youth and plea of guilty, which spared Ms D'Argent testifying at a trial, life in jail was only appropriate.
She ordered that he serve a minimum of 33 years before being eligible for parole.
She said if Acar had not pleaded guilty, the minimum term would have been 38 years in jail.