A Tauranga man has been jailed for at least 11 years for stabbing his former wife to death while she sat in her car reading her mail.
Rex Leverett Prole yelled 'my wife was a liar” as he was led from the courtroom after being sentenced in Rotorua High Court today to life in prison with a non-parole period of 11 years and six months.
Rex Prole was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment today in Rotorua High Court. Inset: Deceased Robyn Prole.
The 65-year-old earlier pleaded guilty to the murder of his third wife Robyn Anne Prole, also known as Robyn Anne Phipps.
The 57-year-old primary school teacher was found dead in the driveway of her Bell Street house on July 20, 2012.
Post-mortem results revealed she died from stab wounds sustained during what is described by Justice Toogood as an unprovoked and brutal attack.
"She sustained 11 stab wounds, some of them defensive wounds.
"The attack was unprovoked,” said the judge.
Robyn had gone to collect the mail from her Judea home on the afternoon of July 20 when Prole attacked her in the driveway of her home.
'You saw Mrs Prole arrive to get the mail and took a kitchen knife and hid it in your pants. You walked down the 30metre driveway and confronted her," said the judge.
Prole reached through the open window of the driver side door and stabbed Robyn in the hand, face and chest while she screamed she loved him.
"She tried to move away but you pulled her close to you and continued to attack her.
'You removed the keys from the ignition preventing any escape. Mrs Prole managed to get out of the vehicle but died a few meters from her car from the wounds she sustained."
The estranged couple met in 2007 and were married in 2010.
The couple's marriage began to break down and they separated following a domestic incident in April last year.
In sentencing today the court heard how Prole has a history of domestic violence offences with five prior convictions for threatening to kill, male assaults female and breaching protection orders.
In 1993, the convicted murderer suffered a head injury as a result of a motorbike accident and psychiatrists believe he has the onset of early dementia.
Justice Toogood said despite this, all three psychiatrists agreed Prole was mentally fit to plead.
"Your offending was premeditated and you had the intention of doing harm. Your estranged wife suffered a prolonged attack and had defensive wounds on her arms and hands.
"A sentence of life in prison was inevitable."
The Bell Street property where Robyn Prole was killed.
14 comments
Not long enough
Posted on 30-05-2013 15:22 | By sametcalfe
An eleven year sentence is not long enough for a cruel man like this.
.
Posted on 30-05-2013 15:27 | By whatsinaname
11 years is to short. should be life. He new what he was doing by reading thru the report above Hope he put in a cell on his own
Wow
Posted on 30-05-2013 16:39 | By maildrop
Makes you wonder what you have to do to get a decent sentence. Basically if you kill someone you just need to say you didn't mean to, plead guilty, show remorse even if it's fake, watch the judge give you "credits" for all this and you'll be home in no time.
Sentence
Posted on 30-05-2013 16:40 | By viv
Her life is worth only 11 years of his- pathetic, life is life is it not!!!
what a peice of shite
Posted on 30-05-2013 17:38 | By lpm67
This guy is dirt and should have gotten a lot longer, we need the death penalty back so tax payers donthave to pay to keep dirtbags like this breathing.
whatsinaname
Posted on 30-05-2013 19:14 | By Colleen Spiro
No please don't put him in a cell of his own....put him in with the most hardened criminals, so he can get a bit back of what Robyn had to put up with.....and others.
Posted on 30-05-2013 19:22 | By annon
How pathetic, 11 years for brutally taking a LIFE!, in the states he would be on death row. I think its time our judges were given a shake up and sentencing was changed to suit the crime, as it stands NZ is the place to be if you want to get away with murder. makes me sick.
Posted on 30-05-2013 19:24 | By annon
.....also the above article needs to be corrected, he did NOT get 'life' he got a extended holiday at the tax payers expense.
Crazy
Posted on 30-05-2013 22:20 | By marcus
11 years is a joke for this type of crime, no doubt out in 5?. Things need to change and hard internal labor to fund the prisons is needed, not by the tax payer....these places need to be run like a business to pay for themselves.... the less they make the lights go out!
annon,
Posted on 31-05-2013 11:26 | By whatsinaname
totally agree. 11 years is nothing......... this sort of thing should be death penalty...... lucky he dont live in USA
Posted on 31-05-2013 17:11 | By halo
bring back the death penalty death for death.
Evil, evil man
Posted on 31-05-2013 18:20 | By moppy
Robyn, justice has been done to that evil man. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. by DJ
Understanding Parole....
Posted on 01-06-2013 09:11 | By stein61
I feel that a number of those commenting here have little or no understanding of the justice system.... Prole HAS been sentenced to LIFE imprisonment. Put the 11.5 years out of it. This is merely an indication to the Parole Board of when they can consider him for parole. i.e the earliest he could ever be released. He will be close to 77 years old then. To be considered for parole he has to acknowledge his offending before anything else is taken into account....not something Prole has in him from what I can see, still blaming his wife even after being sentenced and calling her 'a liar'. The man has been sentenced to see the rest of his life in a prison cell....at his age and attitude he will not get past the first hurdle the parole board put up.
shame
Posted on 04-06-2013 09:41 | By madmick
20 years no parole at lest for this scum
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to make a comment.