Vic murderer loses appeal against sentence

A Melbourne man who shot his ex-wife dead in front of their children has lost an appeal against his sentence.

Denis Delich, 62, was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a non-parole period of 16 years after admitting to the murder of Almasa Locic.

Delich gunned down his ex-wife outside her Mulgrave home in November 2011, shooting her in the back as she tried to flee, and then in the abdomen.

The attack was witnessed by their two adult sons.

Lawyers for Delich had argued in the Victorian Court of Appeal that his sentence was excessive, crushing and failed to give adequate weight to the killer's guilty plea and chronic depression.

However, Justices Geoffrey Nettle, Marcia Neave and Michael Sifris rejected the appeal, saying Justice Lex Lasry had not fallen into error in imposing the sentence.