By Alan Erwin

Copyright newsletter

Wiktoria Maksymowicz stabbed Tony Browne, 54, in the neck as he lay drunk and unconscious in the bedroom of the Woodside Park property in October 2022. Her lawyers argued the minimum 14-year prison term imposed for the unprovoked killing should have been reduced because of mitigating circumstances. But judges in the Court of Appeal rejected claims the sentence was manifestly excessive. Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan identified Maksymowicz’s use of a blade and Mr Browne’s vulnerability as aggravating features. “Notwithstanding the prosecution’s concession it could not prove the applicant had an intention to kill the victim, she had a knife and the victim was in all probability unconscious at the time of his death,” Dame Siobhan said. In May last year Maksymowicz, a 36-year-old Polish national, pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Browne and possession of cannabis. She also admitted assaulting the victim and having a knife on board a Glider bus on the day before the killing. Mr Browne, a father-of-three, was described by his family as a “gentle and kind soul”. The court heard he had been sober for 10 years but began drinking heavily again after meeting Maksymowicz. During an initial attack she took a dinner knife from the kitchen and stabbed the victim in the knee in front of one of his shocked relatives. The following day paramedics were called out to their home and discovered Mr Browne unresponsive on the bedroom floor, bleeding heavily from a neck wound. He was taken to hospital but died a short time later. Maksymowicz was also present at the property in a distressed state, telling police: “I tried to save him, I tried to protect him”. Ultimately she confessed to the murder and received a minimum tariff of 14 years imprisonment. Appealing the term imposed, her legal team claimed the sentencing judge wrongly assessed mitigation and should have given more credit for the guilty plea. According to the Lady Chief Justice, however, it could arguably have been a longer sentence based on the domestic violence and other issues in the case. Dismissing the appeal, Dame Siobhan described the grounds of challenge as unsustainable. “The judge has not made any error of principle which would make us consider adjusting this sentence,” she ruled. “In our view the sentence was arrived at by a proper route and is explained in a reasoned judgment.”