A man who claimed he thought his girlfriend was a life-sucking demon when he strangled her to death has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Jordan Brodie Miller, 21, murdered Emerald Wardle, 18, in the home they shared at Metford near Maitland in the NSW Hunter Valley in June 2020.
A jury found him guilty in June this year.
Miller has always admitted to killing Ms Wardle and had used the drug LSD 11 days earlier.
During a Supreme Court trial, defence barrister Peter Krisenthal argued his client suffered chronic schizophrenia, exacerbated by drug use.
The defence told the court Miller did not know that what he had done was legally and morally wrong.
But Crown prosecutor Lee Carr rejected this, stating a drug-induced psychotic episode led to Miller's actions, having a "completely self-inflicted, causative effect".
During a police interview, Miller told police he "took half a tab of acid and had a spiritual enlightenment".
"I felt I had a curse on me and the only way I could fix it was to kill myself or kill her," he said.
The prosecution argued Miller, who was a second-year university student and part-time service station worker with no criminal history, made the choice to take the drug.
Mr Carr said there were signs that Miller recognised that he had killed Ms Wardle and knew she was human and not a demon.
The jury ultimately agreed.
In delivering his sentence, Justice Richard Cavanagh said if Miller "hadn't taken drugs, this would not have occurred".
"The murder of any young woman in her home is particularly egregious," he said.
"The sad and tragic fact is this happened because the offender took drugs.
"The murder was one of significant violence, and Ms Wardle would have suffered unimaginable fear and terror".
Ms Wardle's family laid her favourite flower, sunflowers, outside Newcastle Supreme Court.
Her great-aunt, Jeanette, said it was "a tragic situation."
"It's probably not the parole period we were hoping for, but I guess from a family perspective, we just feel that there's no winners here," she said.
"No amount of number is going to actually bring our beautiful Emerald back to her mother and father.
"Hopefully, our family can go forward and heal and remember Emerald in the way that we want to and not in the legal context."
In her victim impact statement, Ms Wardle's mother Tania Simshauser described the pain caused by constant references to her daughter as a demon.
"She was not a demon, she was my daughter and the absolute love of my life," she said.
"Emmy is the victim who died because she loved and trusted a monster".
