A woman who stabbed her niece to death over a love triangle has been sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Edwina Josephine Lewis, 33, murdered her 28-year-old niece at Mitchell St in Darwin at about 8pm on December 20, 2022.
Justice Sonia Brownhill said that while Lewis was locked up in November 2022 on another matter, she was ‘worried’ about her partner’s fidelity and was told he had been ‘mucking around’ with her niece.
On the day of the stabbing, Lewis, her niece and a third woman – another of the deceased’s aunts – came together at or near Smith St Mall, the NT News reported.
The niece tried to walk away, but Lewis challenged her to a fight at Knuckey St and they exchanged blows, with the niece admitting to the relationship.
Edwina Josephine Lewis (pictured), who stabbed her niece to death over a love triangle, has been sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 20 years
The niece came out on top in the fight and taunted Lewis, who was ‘humiliated’, the court heard.
Lewis – who said she would stab her niece, according to a witness – went to a nearby Coles shop and bought a 19cm kitchen knife.
She then found the victim and her aunt close to Monsoons Restaurant and Party Bar and produced the knife.
The aunt stepped between them and was stabbed in the chest by Lewis, who then stabbed her niece 11 times, killing her.
She hid the knife in a nearby garden and told police officers who arrived on the scene that she was not the defendant but had seen her going the other way.
Lewis, who is a mother of three, was ‘intoxicated and disinhibited’ due to the cheating, Justice Brownhill said.
But despite her state, she still formed the intention to kill her niece and understand what she was doing.
Justice Brownhill said this was particularly the case ‘given your stated intention to stab the deceased after the fist fight, and your deliberate and calculated decision to acquire the knife from Coles and then return to the deceased’.
The judge added that stabbing her niece and her niece’s aunt was ‘disproportionate’ to the hurt she felt from the infidelity.
Lewis, 33, murdered her 28-year-old niece at Mitchell St (pictured) in Darwin at around 8pm on December 20, 2022
Lewis had an ‘extensive’ criminal history, including multiple convictions for violent offences, the court heard.
She had a reasonably stable upbringing after being taken in by her grandparents when she was aged seven, but Lewis had been abused by several partners, some of whom were jailed for assaulting her.
She had also been a ‘heavy user’ of alcohol and cannabis since her teenage years.
The judge said Lewis’ chances of rehabilitation were ‘guarded at best’ and sentenced her to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 20 years, which is the mandatory minimum in the NT.
