Melbourne, April 01: A Man who tried to pass off his wife’s stab wounds as suicide has been jailed for almost a quarter of a century for her murder.
SA man jailed for wife’s murder
Craig Aaron Cocks, 37, stabbed his wife 13 times and strangled her after they got home from a dinner to celebrate her 40th birthday early last year.
He claimed she did it to herself after talking him into an impromptu suicide pact to escape their financial woes.
He had shallow cuts that he said showed he had considered joining her in death before he changed his mind.
One jury could not reach a verdict.
But another jury at his second Supreme Court trial in March found him guilty of murder.
Sentencing Cocks today, Justice Trish Kelly said “no reasonable man or woman was ever going to accept” Cocks’ tale of suicide.
He had murdered her in a “callous and brutal” way, her wounds showing his wife had tried to defend herself from Cocks’ stabbing.
“You then resorted to manual strangulation to make sure you killed her,” Justice Kelly said.
She jailed Cocks for life with a non-parole period of 24 years.
Outside the court in Adelaide, family friend Janine Gallagher said the family was pleased with Justice Kelly’s sentencing remarks.
“I thought she was spot on and it was good that she obviously knew from day one that no one could possibly believe his story. It was ridiculous,” she said.
She said Jodie’s family and friends now had to grieve and keep her memory alive for her son.
“She always lit up a room with her smile,” she said.
——–Agencies