Vic domestic murder sentence range queried

Victoria's Court of Appeal has said an 18-and-a-half-year jail term for a "savage and merciless" domestic murder is within the available range - then questioned if the range was too low.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had sought to have the sentence of Isac Ayoul Daing increased because the judge did not take into account the "sustained brutality of the attack on a defenceless woman".

Daing, 37, was ordered to serve a minimum term of 14 years and six months for breaking into the Footscray home of his ex-girlfriend Maryanne Sikai then smashing a chair over her back and bashing her to death with its leg.

She died in hospital in March 2014 after paramedics found her unresponsive in her home, and covered in so much blood they could not determine the severity of her wounds.

The court said the former security guard had beaten Ms Sikai "to a pulp" in a horrifying and brutal murder, but it dismissed the DPP's appeal, saying that, while lenient, the sentence was within range.

In his reasons, Justice Phillip Priest said sentences imposed in the murder of domestic partners raise an important question as to whether current sentencing practices adequately reflect the seriousness with which they ought to be viewed.

"Indeed, it might be queried whether, generally speaking, the 'tariff' for such killings is not too low," Justice Priest said.

However he said if there was to be an increase in sentencing standards for the murder of domestic partners, it must be incremental and Daing's case was not the appropriate vehicle to examine the question.

The Court of Appeal said it was open to the sentencing judge to find Daing's moral culpability for his crime was reduced because of his post-traumatic stress disorder and his traumatic upbringing.

His childhood in Sudan was characterised by "appalling deprivation and suffering".

Daing had watched as his father was shot dead in front of him.

He was later taken in by the family of a North Sudanese army officer who beat him and forced him into servitude.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Terry Forrest, who sentenced Daing, was satisfied the Ascot Vale man's upbringing was connected to his offending.

The DPP's appeal was dismissed.