A man who, in a drug-induced psychosis and in front of their two children, repeatedly punched then stabbed his partner of 15 years to death, will spend the next 20 years behind bars.
Steven Dean, 38, attacked partner Emmerich Lasakar, 35, in April 2023 and left her to die on the floor of their Kewdale home while he sped off in his Ford Ranger Raptor, traversing multiple suburbs across Perth at speeds of up to 155km/h, through red lights and stop signs and across a railway track in the path of an oncoming passenger train.
Dean killed partner Emmerich Lasaker (pictured) before crashing his car.
On Friday during his sentencing for the crime that has left motherless two children, now eight and 15 years old, the court also heard how Dean stopped at a Victoria Park service station to buy cigarettes with a $10 note before threatening the attendant with a knife.
Moments later, he crashed his ute on a St James street, staggered from the wreckage and approached a nearby house where he asked for assistance before washing his face. He then took a kitchen knife to the backyard where he attempted to stab himself in the neck.
Police had to taser Dean to arrest him and took him Royal Perth Hospital with multiple fractures and dislocations from the crash.
He was charged with his partner’s murder a few days later.
During his sentencing the court was told Dean was suffering from a methamphetamine-induced psychosis at the time he attacked Lasakar, which caused “bizarre and repulsive beliefs” about her, including that she was cheating.
The court heard Dean recorded a video of himself driving at high speeds after the attack, also recording “a psychotic rant” about his partner, whom he had insisted quit her job at a laundry just days prior.
Family described Dean as controlling and Lasakar as a devoted mother.
The court was also told how the couple’s then 14-year-old daughter tried to intervene in the attack and protect her mother, who died from 13 stab wounds to her body.
In sentencing Dean on Friday, Justice Bruno Fiannaca described his actions as “senseless, frenzied violence” that “wreaked havoc and destroyed lives.”
The court was told Dean began using cocaine three years before the murder as a way to cope with a traumatic workplace incident in which a colleague died.
He went on to ingest methamphetamine by mistake, the court heard, but it launched a habit that led to his mental health spiralling in the months preceding the April 17 murder.
He refused suggestions he get professional help.
Dean was a business owner who had no prior criminal history and colleagues said on the day of the attack, he appeared calm and rational. His partner and children had visited him at his workplace for a family picnic hours before the fatal assault.
Last year he admitted he was responsible for Lasakar’s death and last week told the court he had intended to kill the 35-year-old, but claimed he couldn’t remember doing so.
“Your offending is one of the most serious examples of domestic violence,” Justice Fiannaca said, before describing the incidences of domestic violence in the West Australian community as “a scourge in our society for many years”.
“I do not accept your psychotic state should reduce your culpability,” he said.
“Domestic violence committed by men against women ... to control their lives is abhorrent.”
He said domestic violence was at crisis point that “required a broader societal response”.
Outside court, Lasakar’s sister Diana, who has taken in the children, said nothing would bring her back.
Dean received a life sentence with a minimum of 20 years to be served before the possibility of parole, as well as two years for the armed robbery, 12 months for the home burglary and seven months for the reckless driving, to be served concurrently.
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