AN Australind woman accused of murdering her former boyfriend has been found guilty of manslaughter in Bunbury’s Supreme Court today.
Rachael Elizabeth Boyd, 29, had pleaded not guilty to murder in court this week after she was accused of stabbing her former boyfriend, Trent John Panizza, 29, at their Australind home on January 28.
Boyd has been sentenced to five years and seven months in prison, which will be back dated to March for the time she has already served.
The Panizza family hugged and consoled each other when the verdict was delivered in court.
The court was told that Mr Panizza was killed during an argument between the on-again, off-again couple.
Boyd had told detectives she had held up a 15-centimetre knife to defend herself and Mr Panizza had stepped into it.
Defence lawyer Linda Black told the court that Mr Panizza was heavily intoxicated and it was confirmed he had a blood alcohol reading of 0.134.
Prosecutor Robert Wilson’s closing argument yesterday said Boyd was angry at the time of the incident, she had picked up the knife and he said Boyd said she had stabbed Mr Panizza.
The trial was expected to take five days but finished today after the court reached the verdict of manslaughter.
The Panizza family said the tension of the hearings and the trials caused great stress on the family.
The deceased's father John Panizza told media he was relieved the trial was over.
"We would like to thank the jurors for making the right decision and sincerely thank the detectives who have worked on the case." Mr Panizza said.
"People talk about closure, but we will never have any closure."
