Arona Peniamina who stabbed then bashed his NZ wife to death found not guilty of murder

Sandra Peniamina was stabbed and then bashed to death by her husband. Photo / Supplied

Brisbane man Arona Peniamina who stabbed his wife, Sandra, 29 times and then chased her down the driveway when she tried to escape and bludgeoned her to death has been found not guilty of her murder.

The Courier Mail reports that a Brisbane Supreme Court jury said it could not reach a unanimous verdict on the murder charge.

Instead, the jury found the man guilty of mother-of-four Sandra Peniamina's manslaughter when he brutally killed her at their home in Kippa-Ring, north of Brisbane in 2016.

The manslaughter verdict was also not unanimous, with Justice Peter Davis forced to take a majority verdict of 11 of the 12 jurors.

Arona Peniamina. Photo / Supplied

In 2018, Peniamina was found guilty of murdering his Kiwi wife but a retrial was ordered after the High Court found the judge had incorrectly instructed the jury on the defence of provocation.

Peniamina's defence team argued that he lost self-control during the argument with his wife and that he was provoked into killing her.

The court was told Peniamina had confronted his wife over her alleged infidelity and the pair began fighting.

Peniamina had recently returned from a trip to New Zealand to visit her relatives, and Peniamina claimed a Facebook photo with another man was "proof" of her infidelity.

Sandra Peniamina fled the home after being stabbed but was beaten to death in her driveway. Photo / Supplied

Sandra Peniamina armed herself with a knife during the fight but her husband told the court he grabbed the blade, cutting himself in the process, before using it to repeatedly stab her.

Crown Prosecutor Dzenita Balic told the court Peniamina's attack was particularly brutal, stabbing his wife 29 times.

"He had pushed his wife on the ground and according to him she had tried to run away from him," Ms Balic said. "As he grabbed and pushed her onto the ground you will also hear him say he used … the bollard to hit her to the back of the head."

The court heard parts of the broken knife were found on the driveway and the tip of the blade was later extracted from Sandra Peniamina's skull.

Peniamina will be sentenced for manslaughter later next month.