James Stoneham is led into court. Credit:Justin McManus Mr Rochford said when Ms Donato finally ended the relationship in December 2011, Stoneham did not take the break-up well and tried to commit suicide a number of times last year. On August 1 last year Ms Donato found her car's passenger side window had been smashed outside her family's Avondale Heights home. Stoneham sent a text message to a friend the next day of a copy of a handwritten note which included the letters, LNWOTB. Mr Rochford said this stood for "Last night was only the beginning".

Adriana Donata. Stoneham later searched Google for ways to climb a wall and a drain pipe and how to break a window quietly. Ms Donato lived with her parents and brother in a two-storey house and her bedroom was on the top floor. Stoneham also tried to access Ms Donato's Facebook page and searched Google Street View to see where she lived. Mr Rochford said Stoneham told a psychologist he was seeing at the time how he was feeling angry and aggressive and was having thoughts of harming someone.

(I'm) sickened that women are still being treated as objects in this day and age. Stoneham bought a "skinny" knife for $125 on August 17 and told a friend he was planning to kill Ms Donato that night. Five days later he told his psychologist his anger had subsided and his focus was now on saving money to travel overseas. After the appointment, Stoneham again googled Ms Donato's street address. He went to work on August 23 but during the day used his iPhone to research what jail sentences were imposed for murder. Stoneham phoned a friend at 9.24pm that night and asked him to get Ms Donato, who was attending a 21st birthday party, to come outside without telling her he was there waiting.

Stoneham then approached Ms Donato and ordered her into the car before driving towards the park. Mr Rochford said Stoneham's friend called him on his mobile phone and could hear Ms Donato crying in the background. The friend heard her say, "I'm scared, he has a knife." Stoneham then parked the car in Riverside Park, Aberfeldie, before stabbing Ms Donato once in the left side of the neck to a depth of between seven and eight centimetres. She was found lying in a pool of blood and could not be revived. When police arrived, Stoneham held a knife to his throat and wanted police to shoot him before giving himself up. In her victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Donato's distraught mother, Grace, said she would never forget the moment police came to her door to tell her that her beautiful, loving, caring daughter who had such an infectious smile and vivacious laugh had been killed.

Mrs Donato said it was a mother's worst nightmare and she misses her daughter immensely every day and "yearns to give her a big hug". She told the court she feels "sickened that women are still being treated as objects in this day and age". Ms Donato's father, Joe, said he would forever blame himself for not being there to protect his daughter. Mr Donato said Stoneham had meticulously planned and researched with military precision the slaughter of his defenceless daughter. He urged Justice Michael Croucher to send a clear message when sentencing Stoneham that violence against women would not be tolerated.

Mr Rochford said Stoneham deserved to be jailed for up to 21 years. Defence barrister Peter Morrissey, SC, said Stoneham, who had a Sri Lankan background and was adopted by the Stoneham family in 1991 when he was eight weeks old, had been suffering from a major depressive illness with psychotic features when he killed Ms Donato. Justice Croucher remanded Stoneham for sentencing on a date to be fixed. Alan Stoneham, 58, played 128 games for Footscray and another 78 for Essendon, kicking 62 goals. He had been recruited by Footscray from Sunshine in the VFA when he was 16 in 1972 and played eight seasons for the Bulldogs before joining Essendon in 1980. He retired in 1983.