Man who stabbed ex-partner's Tinder date to death in Sydney jailed for 30 years

Updated

A man who stabbed to death his ex-partner's Tinder date in a Sydney restaurant has been sentenced to at least 30 years in jail.

Jovi Pilapil was on a first date with Keith Collins at a restaurant in the Hornsby shopping centre last year when they were attacked.

Alexander Villaluna killed Mr Collins after stabbing the 53-year-old 10 times in the stomach and neck with a hunting knife he had bought a few weeks earlier.

Villaluna stabbed his former partner in the chest and arm before she managed to escape.

He surrendered at the scene and later pleaded guilty to murder and wounding with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.

For murder, the 46-year-old was sentenced to a maximum 34 years in prison. For wounding, he was sentenced to a maximum 12 years.

Part of the sentences will be served concurrently.

The sentences carry a combined non-parole period of 30 years.

'Cowardly and vicious'

In sentencing, Justice Robert Beech-Jones described the crimes as "cowardly and vicious".

"The offender is an almost text book example of a perpetrator of extreme domestic violence," he said.

Justice Beech-Jones described CCTV footage of the crime.

It showed Villaluna attacking Mr Collins first, then stabbing Ms Pilapil before returning to Mr Collins who was trying to get up off the floor.

"Of all the cowardly and pitiless acts the offender committed on this day, his actions in returning to finish off a dying man on the ground were the most heinous," Justice Beech-Jones said.

"The offender interrupted his vicious attack on his ex-partner to stab a defenceless dying man that the offender had never met and only because he dared to have dinner with a woman who did not wish to be with the offender anymore."

The court heard Ms Pilapil met Mr Collins through the dating app Tinder.

"The offender regarded Mr Collins as simply some intruder on his domain who he had the right to eliminate," Justice Beech-Jones said.

Villaluna and Ms Pilapil separated six months before the attack after a physically abusive relationship.

Justice Beech-Jones said Villaluna had shown no remorse.

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, murder-and-manslaughter, police, community-and-society, domestic-violence, courts-and-trials, hornsby-2077

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