A man strangled his wife at a hotel on Valentine’s Day while suffering a drug-induced psychosis that sparked paranoia she had stolen his driver’s licence.
Jeffrey James Godfrey, 53, pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday, accused of killing his wife of 27 years, Vanessa Godfrey, 46, at the Pelican Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast on February 14, 2022.
Prosecutor Matthew Le Grand said Godfrey had been a heavy user of cannabis for over 30 years and meth for over 10 years before he became increasingly paranoid and started experiencing delusions relating to his wife.
Mr Le Grand said Godfrey suffered his first documented psychotic episode on Valentine’s Day 2022 which culminated in killing his wife while they were away at a friend’s birthday weekend.
The night before the fatal attack, Godfrey realised he was missing his driver’s licence and Medicare card, and believed his wife had stolen them.
He confronted her about it and asked if “his whole life had been a lie” before the pair slept.
On Valentine’s Day morning, Ms Godfrey asked her husband to massage her neck so he sat on the bed with his back to the headboard and his wife between his legs.
During the massage, he again asked if his “whole life had been a lie” before putting his arm around her neck and strangling her with “substantial pressure” until she stopped breathing.
Godfrey sat looking at his wife’s limp body and thought he saw her breathe so he took a knife and cut her arms.
He drank alcohol, took valium tablets and cut his arms over several hours before hotel staff came knocking on the door of the room as the couple had not checked out.
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They discovered Godfrey passed out on the floor and his wife in a pool of blood on the bed.
Godfrey confessed to police that he had killed his wife after having an argument that she stole his driver’s licence, claiming Ms Godfrey had promised it was true and told him that no one would have figured it out.
He was charged with murder as a domestic violence offence but after the case went through the mental health court, where Godfrey was diagnosed with drug-induced psychosis, it was downgraded to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
“He killed Ms Godfrey with the intent of ending her life, however at the time of the killing he suffered an abnormality of mind which subsequently impaired his capacity to know he ought not to kill her,” Mr Le Grand told Justice Glenn Martin.
Godfrey’s daughter Olivia told Justice Martin of the indescribable impact her father’s actions had on her life after growing up in a loving home.
“I lost my beautiful mother due to my father’s horrible choices and my caring father now in a place I never saw him ending up,” she said in a victim impact statement.
She said her daughter asks, “Why don’t I have a nanny and poppy”.
Godfrey, who wore a light blue shirt, watched his daughter read the impact statement, wiping his nose periodically.
Mr Le Grand has asked Justice Martin to consider a sentence of more than 10 years, while defence lawyer Simon Lewis has argued for less than a decade behind bars.
Justice Martin questioned the defence’s argument that Godfrey should not be identified as a serious violent offender – meaning he has to serve 80 per cent of his sentence – given the seriousness of the crime.
“Your client thought he had killed his wife then thought she is not dead so I’ll make sure,” Justice Martin said.
“She put herself in a vulnerable position no doubt because she had no idea anything like this would happen.”
Justice Martin will hand down his sentence on January 30.
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