A woman has been sentenced to eight months’ jail after she was found guilty of torching a car and cleaning a St Albans house in a bid to destroy evidence of a fatal stabbing.
Crystal Portelli, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of assisting an offender and one count of arson following the stabbing death of Hieu Nguyen in May, 2013.
Portelli had been living in the bedroom of a house at Alfrieda Street, St Albans, when a group of people, including Nguyen, arrived on May 10, 2013, to drink and take drugs.
Some time during the night, Nguyen was struck with a bottle and stabbed after a fight over heroin.
He was dumped opposite Sunshine Hospital’s emergency department, where he later died.
Portelli had not been at the house at the time of the attack.
Upon her return, she took control of the clean-up of the house and arranged for the car used to dump Nguyen to be torched in a bid to destroy the blood in the vehicle.
Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry said Portelli had made a considerable effort to protect those directly responsible for the attack.
“It appears that this cleaning effort went on for some considerable time,” he said.
“You told another witness that you had spent the day cleaning the premises, getting rid of all the blood using bleach. This was a very sustained effort.”
Justice Lasry said Portelli had shown some remorse in a letter she had written to the court and by pleading guilty to her actions.
He also referred to her previous criminal history, which included 18 prior convictions from five court appearances.
“They involve levels of violence and … a disregard for the rules that should govern our behaviour,” he said.
Portelli was sentenced to eight months’ jail and 100 hours of community work.
