A woman's last words to her accountant husband as he bashed her to death with a wheel brace were "I love you", a Perth court has been told.

Key points: Ahmed Seedat got a contractor to dig a hole, purportedly for a pool, in his backyard

Ahmed Seedat got a contractor to dig a hole, purportedly for a pool, in his backyard He then killed his wife Fahima Yusuf by bashing her with a wheel brace

He then killed his wife Fahima Yusuf by bashing her with a wheel brace He was undone by a series of internet searches about burying bodies

Ahmed Seedat, 37, was charged with murder in September last year after the body of Fahima Yusuf, 32, was discovered buried in a shallow grave in the backyard of the family home in the Perth suburb of Carlisle.

He pleaded guilty in January after admitting to bludgeoning Ms Yusuf to death in the house on August 31, while their children — aged two and five — slept in another room.

In handing down Seedat's sentence today, Supreme Court Judge Bruno Fiannaca described the murder as a brutal, callous and cowardly attack.

"I am satisfied you had planned the murder for some weeks and you had egotistical motives," Justice Fiannaca said.

"You thought you could get away with killing your wife by creating a ruse that she was acting irrationally and irresponsibly.

"It was calculating behaviour."

Ms Yusuf's body was found buried in the backyard of her Carlisle home. ( Facebook: Fahima Yusuf )

The court heard Seedat had told police that while he was beating his wife, she had said "I love you".

He said they were her last words.

"It demonstrates her fear and desperation to stop you from killing her," Justice Fiannaca said.

"The deceased would have been terrified."

Seedat sat with his head in his hands and shook as the details of the crime were read to the court.

He was sentenced to life in jail, with a non-parole period of 23 years.

Internet searches, texts revealed motive

An earlier sentencing hearing heard Seedat was undone by a series of internet searches in the weeks before the killing, which the prosecution said showed the murder had been planned in advance.

They included "burying a cat", "cremating a body" and "burying someone aliv [sic]".

Sorry, this video has expired Police found Ms Yusuf's body after excavating the backyard of the Carlisle house

Text messages between Seedat and his wife's sister were also presented to the court, with the prosecution saying that while they were just "close friends", the inference could be made that he had wanted to progress his relationship with his sister-in-law after his wife's death.

A further internet search by Seedat on August 8 — three weeks before the murder — added to that inference.

"Can you marry brother in law if sister dead, muslim [sic]," it read.

Seedat claimed his marriage was falling apart because of his wife's "sexual demands of him".

He told police she was emotionally abusive and on the night of the murder she had become "sexually aggressive" towards him, and he attacked her.

Fahima Yusuf was killed by her husband while their children slept nearby. ( Facebook )

The court was told Seedat had engaged the services of a prostitute for a number of years before he murdered his wife.

Defence lawyer Bernard Standish told an earlier hearing his client was remorseful and knew he would go to jail, but was hopeful he would be considered for parole.

Seedat linked to multi-million-dollar fraud

Seedat had been the director of a Perth accounting firm before his arrest.

The court heard he was also facing a string of fraud charges, accused of squandering his clients out of millions of dollars to feed his gambling habit.

An earlier hearing was told he would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time betting on horse racing.

He has indicated he intends to plead guilty to those charges.