Cheating wife jailed over plot to kill husband

Chris Soteriou's 44th birthday card from his wife, Vicky, was signed with hugs, kisses and a message that she adored him.

"Wishing you all the best with everything you wish for. Thank you for loving me so much. Your wife who adores you," she wrote.

It was a charade created by a manipulative, betraying wife.

In reality, Vicky Soteriou's love was for another man - Ari Dimitrakis - and she planned that within hours of reading his birthday card, her husband would be dead.

Behind Chris Soteriou's back, his wife and Dimitrakis were engaged in a passionate affair - she even had her lover's name tattooed underneath her wedding finger. A few hours later, as they walked arm in arm to their car from a Melbourne restaurant on January 2 last year, Dimitrakis attacked Chris Soteriou, slit his throat and stabbed him multiple times.

But for the quick intervention of two nearby doctors, the plan would almost certainly have been a success.

Chris Soteriou suffered life-threatening injuries and when he awoke from a coma he was told his wife was having an affair and that she had plotted with her lover to kill him. The perfect life and perfect marriage he thought he had was a sham.

Sentencing Soteriou in the Victorian Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Elizabeth Curtain accused her of a gross betrayal of her husband's trust and jailed her for 12 years.

"You did not wield the knife but you intended your husband's death just as surely as if you did," she said.

"It is difficult to appreciate the profound sense of betrayal that he must feel in the face of the knowledge that his wife with her lover had attempted to murder him on his 44th birthday.

"It is not disputed that your husband had provided you with an affluent lifestyle, and it appears from the sentiments expressed in the birthday card that you were prepared to have him believe he was loved and appreciated in return. In truth, you wanted him dead."

To the friends whom they had shared dinner with, Chris Soteriou's birthday dinner was a very happy occasion. He wore a new shirt his wife had given him and they were photographed smiling and embracing.

But unknown to her husband, Soteriou had for months been having an affair with another man and had sent him more than 2000 text messages. Soteriou and Dimitrakis had even bought joint grave plots in Melbourne.

Curtain said she was satisfied that the idea of killing Soteriou initially came from his wife and that "had your plan come to fruition your three children would have been left without a father". Those children include twins conceived through IVF who were not even 2 years old when Chris Soteriou was stabbed.

In a final bizarre twist to the case, before the sentencing Curtain was sent flowers and a letter from the couple's 15-year-old daughter, which she said she did not read.

Outside court, Chris Soteriou said he was relieved the legal process was over. "I still can't make sense of the whole tragic event," he said.

Soteriou, 44, was ordered to serve a non-parole period of nine years. Dimitrakis, who pleaded guilty to intentionally causing serious injury and gave evidence against Soteriou, was jailed for seven years with a non-parole period of five years.

- AAP