August 11, 2009
SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian man was jailed for five years on Monday for the manslaughter of his partner after he attacked her and left her bleeding and then went out to drink beer and watch sport.
David John Reid, 51, was found guilty of manslaughter and recklessly causing injury after he hit 62-year-old Nola Ritter over the head with a ceramic cup for finishing the last drop of cheap wine.
Reid, who has struggled with alcoholism, then left their Melbourne home to drink beer and watch sport with his brother after the incident in May 2006, Victoria Supreme Court heard.
"You chose to abandon her in her moment of need," Justice Simon Whelan told Reid, who was shaking as the sentence was handed down.
Ritter's daughter Lindy later said she was pleased with the sentence.
"It was just such a callous act to leave someone for so many hours," she said outside court.
