Warning: This story contains graphic content.
A Perth man found guilty of the “sustained, relentless and brutal” murder of a Perth mother of four has been sentenced to life in prison as a Supreme Court judge lashed him for trying to cover up his actions by “incinerating” the woman’s body.
Luke Hanif Sekkouah, 37, did not react in court on Friday during Judge Natalie Whitby’s scathing assessment of his actions in April 2024. Sekkouah was handed a significant non-parole period of 24 years behind bars before his release could be considered by the parole board.
The court was told Sekkouah repeatedly and violently stabbed Erica Hay to death after an argument about drugs, money and women escalated in the Warnbro home he’d moved into just six weeks prior.
The mechanical fitter then set Hay’s body on fire while her autistic and developmentally delayed three-year-old daughter was still in the house, before lying to the neighbours, ambulance crews and police about the whole thing.
He made “disparaging” comments about Hay as he was assessed by medical teams after the incident, criticising her as a mother and pointing to her drug use.
On Friday, Whitby told Sekkouah there were no mitigating circumstances in his offending.
Hay had multiple stab wounds to her head, neck and body. Sekkouah continued to stab her after she fell and hit her head on a gas bayonet.
While her body was on the floor, Sekkouah – who is also a father to three children from previous relationships – went to the local shops and purchased a six-pack of beer before stealing a bottle of turpentine, which he later poured over Hay, a nearby pile of clothes and furniture.
Sekkouah set the house alight, grabbed Hay’s daughter and left, banging on the door of a neighbour to tell them he’d woken to find the house on fire and that he didn’t know where Hay was.
A doctor who assessed Sekkouah before the sentencing hearing suggested he suffered from repressed trauma and rage from a childhood being raised by an alcoholic, violent mother.
He likely had complex PTSD and personality disorders, they said, adding that Sekkouah suffered from “intense emotional and violent reactions to certain triggers” that possibly contained a “dissociated component” where he momentarily became detached from his body.
However, Whitby told the court that Hay stood no chance.
“Her injuries were horrific,” she said, as members of her family chose to leave the gallery as the judge recalled Sekkouah’s violence.
“Erica would have been terrified as you continued to stab her repeatedly.
“She had no one to help her. She could not defend herself against your rage. She would have been terrified of what may have happened to her daughter.”
Whitby called Sekkouah’s decision to burn Hay’s body a “vile and degrading act” that made his offending more serious, and she put no weight on a letter he wrote to her apologising for his offending.
“Your actions speak louder than words,” she said.
“Your sustained, deceptive conduct is demonstrative of a lack of remorse.
“You made yourself out to be the calm responsible person in the relationship and that you were a positive addition to her life.
“Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Before handing down her sentence, Whitby commented about domestic violence in society, telling the court that, “a man is not justified in being violent towards a woman just because she argues with him”.
“A woman is entitled to argue and vent frustration towards her partner,” she said.
Sekkouah’s life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 24 years was backdated to April 2024 for time spent in custody.
He was also served with a seven-year sentence for a charge of criminal damage by fire, which he will serve concurrently to his murder sentence.
National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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