Channel 2 news article

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/10/2651042.htm?site=news


5-year jail term for fatal assault

Posted 8 hours 30 minutes ago
Updated 5 hours 22 minutes ago

Lindy Ritter, the daughter of the late Nola Ritter, leaves the Supreme Court in Melbourne

Callous act: Lindy Ritter, the daughter of the victim, says justice has been served. (AAP: Julian Smith)

* Map: Melbourne 3000

A Melbourne man who assaulted his partner and left her to die while he watched football, has been sentenced to five years in jail.

David John Reid was drinking cask wine from coffee cups with his partner Nola Ritter at their Noble Park house in 2006.

They argued over who would drink the last cup, and Reid smashed his coffee mug over Ms Ritter's head.

Justice Simon Whelan said Reid never tried to bandage the wound and by the next morning, there were pools of blood throughout the house.

He said Reid went to watch the football on television with his brother, and came home to find Ms Ritter dead on the floor.

In the Victorian Supreme Court, Reid, 51, was found guilty of manslaughter and recklessly causing injury.

He will serve a non-parole period of three years.

Lindy Ritter, the daughter of Nola Ritter, says she is satisfied with the trial's outcome.

"It was just such a callous act to leave someone for so many hours," she said.

"He really needed to go to jail, at the end of the day I feel like justice was done, at least he's been put in jail."

Tags: courts-and-trials, vic, melbourne-3000