Victorian woman Kate Stone sentenced to 34 years for burning her partner alive

Victorian woman Kate Stone will spend at least 28 years behind bars after a jury found her guilty almost eight months ago of dousing her partner in enamel thinner and setting him alight, killing him.

Stone, 41, was sentenced in Bendigo’s Supreme court today to 34 years’ imprisonment by Justice Lesley Taylor for the murder of her partner Darren Reid.

As she was led out of the court and into the back of a waiting police van, Stone defiantly told waiting reporters she was “innocent.”

“I never murdered my husband, I loved him too much,” she said.

Mr Reid was killed in December 2016 when Stone poured paint thinner over him and set him alight at their Long Gully home in Bendigo.  

A father to her five children, police have been unable to discover a motive that led to her killing her high school sweetheart.

Their children were present for the sentencing and voiced their support of their mother’s continued claims of innocence.

“She’s not supposed to be in jail, she didn’t kill him,” Stone’s daughter said.

Mr Reid’s family said outside court they were happy with the sentence but added it would not bring their son back.

“She’s still sucking air and he’s not,” Mr Reid’s father said.

In a victim impact statement delivered by the victim’s mother, Valda Webb during a pre-sentence hearing last week she detailed her “ongoing nightmares” about they way her son died.

“I see the ugliness and cruelty of the crime,” she said.

While his sister, Janyne Auditori said she recalled the final moments of her brother’s life as she held his hand as he lay in a hospital bed.

“I remember seeing tears come from the corner of his eyes,” she said.