Bree Dellamarta stabbed Mark Ward in the chest with a kitchen knife because of name calling

Bree Dellamarta wanted her partner to stop calling her names, but instead of asking, she picked up a large kitchen knife and plunged it into his chest

Bree Dellamarta wanted her partner to stop calling her names, but instead of asking, she picked up a large kitchen knife and plunged it into his chest.

Mark Ward, 55, had earlier been out with his 41-year-old partner and her family enjoying a good night at their local RSL in Melbourne where he’d won some money and been generous with his earnings.

They went to bed happy, but later got up and the deadly argument began.

Dellamarta told police Mr Ward had been calling her names and she wanted him to stop. She was also tired of how much time he was spending at her flat instead of his own.

The woman, who has an intellectual disability, had only moved into her own home three months earlier, after the death of her parents.

‘It is tragic Ms Dellamarta resolved that argument by picking up a knife and stabbing Mr Ward, and not by other non-violent means,’ her lawyer Julia Munster told Victoria’s Supreme Court on Tuesday at a pre-sentence hearing.

‘She is someone who is not does not have strong skills in mediating conflict and she does not have strong social skills.’

Dellamarta, after initially being charged with murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The incident happened at her Heidelberg West home in January 2020. Dellamarta has been in custody since then.

The court heard Mr Ward collapsed immediately after being stabbed, and that Dellamarta straight away attempted to resuscitate him while calling for help.

She told emergency services she had stabbed her boyfriend and in the hours afterwards answered more than 800 questions in a police interview.

Dellamarta, after initially being charged with murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter

Ms Munster said Dellamarta was remorseful and had accepted she should not have stabbed Mr Ward.

Prosecutor David Glynn described the killing as a serious example of manslaughter, on the borderline with murder.

‘This is a deliberate assault with a deadly weapon, by a woman who has plunged a knife right into a man’s chest,’ he said.

Mr Ward’s family, including two children, described feeling angry and numb after his death.

His daughter had planned to go to university, but has instead put that on hold and decided to take a year off work to work through her grief.

Justice Lesley Taylor will hand down her sentence at a later date.