'I accept that you are remorseful': Melbourne man jailed for murdering wife with extension cord

A Melbourne man who strangled his wife of nearly 50 years with an extension cord has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after a judge said he may not have committed murder if he was not depressed.

Anastasios Karatzas, 70, was sentenced in the Victorian Supreme Court today to a minimum of 11 years in jail for killing his 68-year-old wife Georgia at their Mount Waverley home on November 20, 2017.

While Justice Christopher Beale said the jury's verdict meant they were satisfied Karatzas acted with murderous intent, he acknowledged that his moral culpability was significantly reduced because he was "in the grip of a Major Depressive Episode," when he killed his wife.

"I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you intended to kill her and so will sentence you on the basis that your intention was to inflict really serious injury," Justice Christopher Beale said.

A person can be found guilty of murder if they have the intention to kill or the intention to inflict really serious injury.

"You were in the grips of a major depressive illness at the time of your offence... had you not been in a major depression incident at the time, you may not have committed the offence."

"I accept that you are remorseful for what you have done," Justice Beale said.

Karatzas had suffered from depression for years 15 years and "snapped" the day he killed his wife after a disagreement between them, Justice Beale said.

"Tragically ... after a disagreement you snapped and strangled her with an electrical extension cord until she collapsed ... and you fled the scene."

Mrs Karatzas' elderly mother, who lived with the couple, found her daughter dead lying face-down in the laundry, dressed in her nightie, with the extension cord protruding from beneath her body.

She died from compression to the neck and blunt-force trauma to the head.

Her husband then left the family's home and was reported missing before being arrested when he turned up at his sister's house the next day.

"(There are) no excuses for what I've done. I've done it," prosecutors said Karatzas told police.

Karatzas has already served 674 days behind bars.