A FATHER-of-two convicted of killing his pregnant teenage lover and dumping her body in a lake will spend at least 17 years behind bars.
Darren John Ellis was today sentenced to 21 years in prison with a minimum of 17 for the murder of Naomi Bernaldo two years ago.
The 19-year-old disappeared in September 2006 and her body was pulled two months later from a lake in Creswick in central Victoria.
She had been stabbed in the chest, shot in the head and her body wrapped in chicken wire weighed down with rocks.
Supreme Court Justice Paul Coghlan today said the events surrounding the murder remained a mystery as Ellis, 37, continued to deny any involvement in Ms Bernaldo`s death.
Ellis moved in with Ms Bernaldo in Ballarat in 2006 after the breakdown of his 16-year marriage.
He has two children, aged about 11 and nine, with his former wife.
Justice Coghlan said there was no evidence to suggest Ms Bernaldo`s murder had been premeditated.
He said he could only assume Ellis had killed Ms Bernaldo, who had recently been told she was pregnant, because of some dispute between them.
"The killing itself, involving two weapons, is a brutal one," Justice Coghlan said in sentencing Ellis in the Supreme Court sitting in Ballarat today.
"The concealing of the body ... and the fact that you knew she was pregnant, are also matters in aggravation."
Ellis did not report Ms Bernaldo missing but told his ex-wife on September 30, 2006 that his lover had left him.
A qualified fitter and turner and later a salesman, Ellis separated from his wife in late 2005.
Although the break-up was harmonious, the couple`s relationship had come under pressure after a number of motorbike accidents forced Ellis to switch jobs and move to Melbourne to take up a sales position.
After breaking his left leg for a second time in a motorbike accident in 2005, Ellis spent most of the year immobile, his relationship ended and he began to use amphetamines.
Justice Coghlan said he had taken into account the fact Ellis had no prior convictions, but said at 19, Ms Bernaldo had her whole life ahead of her.
Although she had struggled with addictions to cannabis and amphetamines, Justice Coghlan said at the time of her death Ms Bernaldo had better prospects because she had a "reasonable relationship" with Ellis.
"The fact the circumstances of her death remain unexplained make the situation for her loved ones all the more difficult," he said.
"Although not showing premeditation, there is something calculated about death by both stabbing and shooting.
