A robber responsible for stabbing a man and leaving him to die in his terminally ill mother’s arms is set to spend decades in jail.
Viliami Taufahema was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday after a jury earlier found him guilty of murdering 29-year-old Luke Lembryk during a botched home invasion in Sydney's west in 2019.
Two co-offenders - Bilal Rahim and Lisa Anne Price - who were involved in the armed robbery were also jailed, while Joseph Nehme remains waiting for his sentence after also being found guilty of murder and assault with intent to rob.
The incident stemmed from a Tinder date between Price and Mr Lembryk four months earlier, when the woman spotted bundles of cash and drugs in his property.
After Price told Nehme about the money and drugs along with how to enter the house, he recruited Rahim to drive Taufahema there and help him attempt the theft.
Stabbed five times after he refused to hand over the money, Mr Lembryck died in the arms of his mother.
She later died from cancer.
Justice Sarah McNaughton could not determine which of the two home invaders inflicted the fatal stab wound.
But Taufahema clearly foresaw the prospect of inflicting grievous bodily harm when he broke into the house late at night, she said, making him liable for the murder.
Justice McNaughton noted Mr Lembryk’s final words to a police officer were, “I’m dying, they stabbed me.”
Taufahema was sentenced to 23 years in jail, with a non-parole period of 16 years and six months.
Price, who was found guilty of manslaughter, assault with intent to rob and aggravated breaking and entering, received eight years in prison with a non-parole period of four years and six months.
One of the aggravated breaking and entering charges related to an assault on Mr Lembryk's mother during the home invasion.
After meeting Mr Lembryk on the Tinder date four months before the attack, Price spotted bundles of cash worth between $10,000 and $20,000 at his home, along with a “golf ball-worth” of cocaine.
She was desperate for money and was about to be evicted from her own house when she passed on the information to Nehme, Justice McNaughton said.
Rahim, who drove Taufahema to the job and acted as a lookout throughout, was sentenced to eight years and six months in jail, with a non-parole period of five years and two months.
He was found guilty of manslaughter, assault with intent to rob and aggravated breaking and entering.
Rahim showed an “unconditional and immediate” willingness to be involved when Nehme asked him, likely due to his drug addiction, Justice McNaughton said.
She found Rahim would have foreseen possible resistance once inside the house and knew Nehme was carrying a knife.
Mr Lembryk's father previously told the court there was no adequate sentence that would right the wrong of his son's death.
It was particularly heartbreaking that his terminally ill wife spent her final days mourning the 29-year-old, he said.
Nehme's sentencing submissions will be heard on Monday.
