Former Rochester woman Biannca Edmunds didn’t fire the gun that killed her ex-partner but she will spend at least 20 years behind bars for his murder.
Edmunds was 29 when her husband, Glen Cassidy, fatally shot her ex-partner Michael Caposiena at his home in the Melbourne suburb of Westmeadows in March 2016.
Cassidy went to the unit armed with a single bullet and a plan ‒ one Edmunds knew well after he told her, “You know what I’m going to do when you’re away.”
Edmunds and Cassidy had been living in Shepparton at the time of the killing and earlier lived in Rochester together.
Cassidy had plotted the hit as early as December 2015 and put together a to-do list on his phone noting “one bullet”, “getting him alone”, “body” and “transport”.
He never stood trial for the killing, though, because in the final moments of Mr Caposiena’s life, he pulled out a carving knife and fatally stabbed Cassidy in the torso.
Both men died at the home.
An investigation later revealed Edmunds goaded Cassidy into killing Mr Caposiena and was fed up with attending supervised visits with him so he could see their son.
The responsibility shifted to Edmunds and Mr Caposiena to organise future visits themselves the day before the killing, the Supreme Court of Victoria was told.
In sentencing on Tuesday, October 3, Justice Lex Lasry said it was his view the now 37-year-old Edmunds instigated planning for Mr Caposiena’s murder — albeit with Cassidy as the not-reluctant executor of her wish.
She wanted the problem of the visits to disappear, wanted Mr Caposiena dead and told family members she wanted him out of her life.
A friend of Cassidy told the court Edmunds pressured her husband to “take care” of the situation and said if he were a real man and “had any balls”, he would sort it out.
The pair were married for only about two weeks before the killing.
“You wanted Cassidy to be the only father in your children’s life, but Caposiena wanted to be in (your son’s) life,” Justice Lasry said.
Edmunds gave Cassidy Mr Caposiena’s home address, drew a map, helped him with surveillance and fabricated a text message in an attempt to prove she was not implicated in his murder.
The pair spoke in code about the murder leading up to it, referring to it over the phone as a “job” and “work”, and to Mr Caposiena and his partner — whom Cassidy also attacked on the night of the killing — as “workers”.
Ultimately, Edmunds tried to avoid an inconvenient dispute by using homicidal violence, showing an “extreme” degree of entitlement, the judge said.
“The issues confronting you were so easily resolved without resorting to violence,” Justice Lasry said.
After the killing, ammunition and a chicken schnitzel dinner were found in Cassidy’s car.
Edmunds maintained her innocence and showed no remorse through three trials before a unanimous verdict was reached in December 2022.
The judge sentenced Edmunds to 26 years in prison for the murder, of which she has already served 625 days on remand.
She will be eligible for parole after 20 years.
Justice Lasry disregarded victim impact statements supplied by Cassidy’s family, saying he was a murderer, too.
He noted Edmunds’ childhood was marred by deprivation, dislocation, fear and abuse.
She is engaged to be married after a failed relationship with a prosecution witness.
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– with AAP