‘Deal with this': Judge's warning to Sydney wife killer
Anthony 'Tony' Eriksen, 63, faced the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday after he was found guilty last month by a jury for murdering his partner Lisa Fenwick in their Mascot apartment in April 2023.
Mr Eriksen, who appeared by AVL in prison greens with long grey hair, was chastised by Judge Andrew Coleman SC after failing to organise a lawyer ahead of his sentencing.
Mr Eriksen represented himself for the trial, however, has now indicated his desire to have a Legal Aid lawyer represent him during sentencing.
However, Judge Coleman told the court that little had been done by Mr Eriksen to secure a lawyer.
'I just can't have you in custody interminably until you deal with this,' Judge Coleman told the court.
'I'm not going to let this go on forever. There will come a time where I'm just going to say, you have to prepare the matter yourself … and then I will pass sentence.'
Mr Eriksen told Judge Coleman he would ring Legal Aid soon.
'I'm not just going to keep coming back every week to assess how many phone calls you have to Legal Aid,' Judge Coleman rebutted.
'The ball is in your court now. I'm not going to descend into the ruck and do it for you.'
Judge Coleman SC placed another court date for next week, urging Eriksen to organise a lawyer in that time.
He also put a sentence hearing date down for August 20.
Last month, it took a jury just two hours of deliberation to find Eriksen guilty of murdering his partner Lisa Fenwick in their Mascot apartment in April 2023.
The court heard how the 59-year-old woman was found lying in a pool of her blood after she was stabbed 13 times.
The jury heard how Ms Fenwick had confided in her friends in the lead-up to the murder.
'I am fearful of Tony. That is why I am telling you this,' she wrote to one friend in a text.
'I just [need] to have a record if something happens to me.'
In another text to a different friend, Ms Fenwick wrote: 'Tony is acting quite strangely … I don't feel safe with him.'
During the trial, the jury also heard from a paramedic, who said they did not perform CPR on Ms Fenwick as it was clear on arrival that she was dead.
'There was blood around her chest and abdomen area with a cloth placed on top,' Paramedic Ryan Constance said.
The matter will next appear in court on August 3.
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