A Victorian man who repeatedly terrorised and raped his wife in such a brutal manner that a sentencing judge was left "bereft of adequate words" has been jailed for more than a decade.
Jon Seccull, a former White Ribbon ambassador, on Monday faced the Victorian County Court, where he was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison.
The 43-year-old had denied all wrongdoing but a jury found him guilty of nine counts of rape, two assaults and one threat to cause serious injury between 2011 and 2015.
Seccull once pointed a loaded gun at his then-wife before unclipping the ammunition and saying she wasn't worth the cost of the bullet.
He then threatened to shoot himself in the driveway so their children would see.
The former corrections officer made degrading sexual demands of his wife and punished her even when she complied with them.
Seccull once broke into a caravan she was hiding in and attacked her.
Another time he said to her: "I'm your husband and I can f***ing touch you whenever I f***ing want. You are mine."
Judge Frank Gucciardo said the Ballarat man derived pleasure from the cruelty and "oppressive subjugation" of his wife that involved "vile and sadistic acts".
"Such abhorrent conduct is breathtaking," Judge Gucciardo told the court.
"This was brutal and cowardly ... the court is bereft of adequate words. The indignity inflicted is of the highest order."
Judge Gucciardo also said Seccull had shown an "utter lack of remorse or skerrick of regret" after pleading not guilty and claiming that witnesses had lied in court.
The woman, who gave AAP permission to name her husband, met Seccull at the local fire brigade in 2000, then aged 20 years old.
She married him three years later.
But he came increasingly abusive during the marriage until their separation in 2016.
The court heard the couple's three-year-old died in 2011, but the judge said that did not explain the man's brutal behaviour.
"Your offending goes well beyond anything which PTSD may have contributed to. While the loss of a child is an immense tragedy ... it is neither an excuse nor an explanation for demeaning treatment of your wife," Judge Gucciardo said.
As well as the rapes, Seccull verbally abused his wife by saying she was too fat, too stupid, too ugly.
He told their children that she didn't love them and told the woman she was lucky he'd have her because no one else would.
She has been left second guessing her ability to make decisions and still apologises for everything, the court was told.
"I apologise for just existing at times - I cannot shake the sense that everything is my fault, even when it clearly is not," she said.
"And since I dared break the code of silence that enshrouds domestic violence, (I) faced the wrath of outing the abuser and besmirching 'the good bloke'.
"I have to remember to lay that blame firmly at the feet of the perpetrator, the man who was meant to love me, my then-husband."
Seccull must serve at least 10 years and six months behind bars before being eligible for parole.
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