The son of a woman who killed her abusive husband by lacing a biscuit with temazepam has said she doesn’t deserve jail time because she suffered at his hands for more than a decade.
Rebecca Payne, 43, who has been dubbed the ‘cookie monster’, was found guilty of the murder of father-of-five Noel Payne, 68, by a Supreme Court jury in regional Victoria earlier this year.
During sentencing this week, Justice Rita Incerti said Payne’s ‘claim for mercy is compelling’ due to the horrific abuse inflicted by Mr Payne which she suffered over many years.
She was sentenced to a maximum 16-year prison sentence, and must serve ten years before she is eligible for parole.
But Payne’s son Jamie said the sentence was too heavy handed, saying a person ‘can only take so much physical, mental and sexual abuse’.
‘I don’t feel she deserved it (the sentence) because she went through 14 or 15 years of abuse,’ Jamie told A Current Affair.
‘I feel she’s done her time.’
Rebecca Payne’s son Jamie (pictured) said he felt his mother had already served a jail sentence in an abusive relationship
Rebecca Payne, 43, who has been dubbed the ‘cookie monster’, was found guilty of the murder of father-of-five Noel Payne by a Supreme Court jury in regional Victoria earlier this year
Jamie has moved to rural Victoria from WA to take care of his younger siblings.
‘I know she (Payne) has nightmares, she can’t sleep at times,’ he added.
‘But I know that where she is she has got help and will definitely come out stronger than when she went in.
‘I hope she gets out soon and we can just become a family and reunite as one again.’
In September 2020, Payne gave her husband a fatal dose of temazepam by lacing the icing of biscuits and serving them to him with a cup of Milo.
She then wrapped him in a blanket and stored his body in a chest freezer in the backyard of their Walpeup house.
The killing came after she suffered years of coercive control and physical, emotional and sexual abuse from Mr Payne.
He cut off communication from her family and friends, did not allow her to go to her son’s funeral and forced her to get 18 tattoos of his name on her body.
On one occasion, after a fight over finances, Mr Payne took her to a cemetery, grabbed her by the hair, kicked her in the ribs and spat on her while she was on the ground.
Justice Incerti said it was impossible to separate the impact the ‘insidious abuse’ had on Payne from her motive to murder him.
‘You were trapped in an abusive, violent and cruel environment for over a decade,’ she told the court.
‘Your conduct and regrettable decision to kill Mr Payne cannot be disentangled from your circumstances and the family violence you endured at his hands.’
During her trial Payne said her husband Noel (pictured) had physically and psychologically abused her for 14 years
Justice Incerti said the case ‘calls out loudly’ for her to use a high degree of mercy in deciding on a prison sentence.
‘Your claim for mercy is compelling,’ she said.
Payne has already served two years and seven months of her sentence.
She said she suffered immense physical and psychological abuse, along with another intellectually disabled woman her husband cruelly brought into the household.
Many of the 170 residents of Walpeup (pictured) see Rebecca as the real ‘victim’ and hailed her as a hero for saving the lives of others in the house
She claimed her husband would rape her ‘whenever he felt like it’, control her and beat her.
He also got her fired from her job at a store in Ouyen, 20 minutes east of Walpeup, as he would often sit inside and frighten customers who would speak to her.
One neighbour, John, said the sentence was ‘not fair’ and that Rebecca was ‘the real victim’.
A man who lived close to the Paynes claimed ‘there’s not a doubt in the world’ Noel was planning to kill Rebecca, their two sons who lived there and the other woman.
‘She saved at least four lives. She didn’t know whether she was going to go to bed and wake up the next morning,’ the neighbour said.
‘Or whether her boys were going to go to bed and wake up the next morning.’
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