A man who murdered a Sydney businessman in his bed over a feud between rival fountain companies has been jailed for at least 20 years.
Fadi "Ricky" Shamoun, 29, was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday over the fatal stabbing of Richard Carruthers, 36, who was brutally attacked in his Castle Hill bedroom in July 2007.
His wife, Phuong Nguyen, who was lying in bed beside him, was also wounded and broke her ankle fleeing the scene.
In March, a jury found Shamoun guilty of murdering Mr Carruthers and maliciously wounding Ms Nguyen.
The trial heard allegations Dirk Marten Slotboom, a business rival of Mr Carruthers, had paid Shamoun $30,000 for him "to be harmed" after Mr Carruthers left Slotboom's water fountain company in 1996.
Mr Carruthers set up his own company, Water Features Australia, which won contracts previously held by Slotboom.
The crown alleged Slotboom felt this loss of work "keenly".
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on Slotboom, who had pleaded not guilty to murder.
He now faces a retrial.
Handing down the sentence, Justice Geoffrey Bellew said he was unable to make a finding on whether Shamoun killed Mr Carruthers for financial reward.
He found that Shamoun had not intended to kill Mr Carruthers, but to inflict grievous bodily harm.
"The fact that a violent struggle obviously took place is not something which, in my view, points specifically in favour of a conclusion that the offender had formed an intention to kill," he said.
"The deceased's murder resulted from an attack upon him which was unprovoked and violent, which involved the use of a weapon, and which was committed within his home following a forced entry by the offender who was in possession of a knife."
Mr Carruthers' family remained shocked and grief-stricken not only because of his death, "but also by the circumstances in which it occurred", Justice Bellew said.
He sentenced Shamoun to a minimum of 20 years and three months for the murder of Mr Carruthers and malicious wounding of Ms Nguyen.
Shamoun will be eligible for parole in June 2036.
