Anthony Eriksen was convicted by a jury in June 2025 of the murder which took place in the couple's Mascot apartment in Sydney's inner south in April 2023. The case has returned to the spotlight as the 64-year-old stabbed his 59-year-old partner Lisa Fenwick in the heart and lungs, leaving her lying on the floor with a blood-soaked washcloth covering her wounds.
The maximum sentence of 26 years and 8 months means the 64-year-old Eriksen could spend the balance of his life behind bars, according to NSW Supreme Court Justice Andrew Coleman, who imposed what he called a "de-facto life sentence." A 20-year non-parole period will expire on April 8, 2043.
The central contest at trial concerned the voluntariness of Eriksen's actions. While Eriksen admitted stabbing Fenwick, he contended at trial that this was not voluntary. The defence appears to rest on an assertion of involuntary conduct, though the specific mechanics of this claim remain limited in available reporting. The judge said the convicted murderer had shown no remorse or insight into his crimes.
The broader circumstances of the killing reveal a relationship under severe strain. Ms Fenwick had asked her partner to move out after supporting him for several years while he was unemployed. The evidence at trial painted a portrait of a woman increasingly frightened and desperate to exit the relationship. "I am fearful of Tony. That is why I am telling you this," she texted to friends. "I just (need) to have a record if something happens to me."
During the emergency call following the stabbing, Eriksen told the operator he had got into an argument with Ms Fenwick and had "put a knife in her". This admission of the act itself forms the foundation of the conviction, with the central question at trial being whether the act was carried out with full criminal intent or whether some involuntary state negated mens rea.
The sentencing process was complicated by Eriksen's own actions. Anthony Eriksen's dismissal of his lawyers meant the judge lacked evidence for sentencing. He declined to have lawyers represent him at trial, hired a legal team before the sentence hearing only to terminate their retainer at the last minute. As a result, Justice Coleman had no evidence about Eriksen's background or mental state which could have reduced his sentence.
"The violence in this case led to the taking of the life of an innocent woman in her own home who was vulnerable and unable to break free from the shackles of their relationship," said NSW Supreme Court Justice Andrew Coleman while sentencing the murderer. The judge noted that it was only because of Eriksen's age when eventually released from prison that he would be unlikely to reoffend.
The defence now mounted on appeal faces steep odds, particularly given the jury's verdict after hearing full evidence and given Eriksen's own admissions to police. The viability of an involuntary conduct defence in the face of such circumstances remains a matter for the appellate courts to weigh.