Melbourne man who made chilling triple zero call jailed for stabbing his wife to death

A Melbourne man, who stabbed his wife in a jealous rage then calmly asked emergency services to come and collect her body, has been jailed for 22 years.

Dancer and choreographer Nikita Chawla, 23, had just finished her final exams in a performing arts degree when Parminder Singh, 30, savagely murdered her with a meat cleaver in their Brunswick West home on January 9, 2015.

Singh was ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years by Victorian Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry today after he pleaded guilty in October to murdering the woman he had secretly married.

Singh was preoccupied with jealousy and betrayal and showed no significant remorse for what he had done, Justice Lasry said.

He said the killing was an exercise in control to ensure Ms Chawla did not share her life with anyone else.

The couple had secretly married in September 2011 but by January of this year their relationship had deteriorated and Ms Chawla had decided to leave Singh.

In March, Singh went through Ms Chawla's phone while she was sleeping and discovered messages she had sent to a man she was working with.

He attacked her in a jealous rage before calling triple-zero and asking them to collect her body.

In the video released to the court, Singh can be heard speaking to a clearly-confused operator about how his wife had been cheating on him.

"So what do you need the police to do tonight?" the operator asks.

"They wanna come and collect the dead body," Singh replies.

"What do you mean 'collect the dead body'?" the operator responds.

"I killed her," Singh calmly says.

Justice Lasry said in sentencing today, "Alarmingly your end of the conversation was conducted in a calm detached voice".

Following his arrest, Singh told police he had suffered a sort of "blackout" and had seen photos on Ms Chawla's phone.

Justice Lasry said Singh did not seem to understand that nothing that happened in the days leading up to the killing could excuse what he did, and that he acted with some degree of vengeance and control.

The crime was an extreme example of domestic violence, Justice Lasry said.

"You murdered someone you professed to love," he said.

"You murdered someone who was entirely entitled to end her marriage with you."

Singh did not respond when the sentence was handed down.