Her killer, Shiloh Rickard, stood with his head bowed when Justice Christine French sentenced him to life with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
He was given a concurrent three-year sentence for the injuries he inflicted on Vicki's younger sister Lisa as she tried in vain to help her sister.
The Telfer family sat in the first row of the public gallery and watched as Rickard, in a multicoloured shirt and jeans, was sentenced for the July 14, 2007, murder of his former partner.
Justice French said victim impact statements told of a young woman who had her life ahead of her.
A few days before she was killed, she told family how she hoped to be a "groovy grandmother".
Vicki (25) was described as a loving mother and caring person who was defenceless against a man much bigger than her.
The lives of her family had been "shattered" by her death.
Vicki started seeing Rickard in early 2007 but the relationship started to break down in June.
At that stage, he hit her and threatened to kill her if she left him.
She was helped by Te Whare Pounamu Women's Refuge to move to a flat with her sister.
Vicki Telfer's mother Barbara said, when contacted recently, she initially thought Rickard was personable and friendly until he started threatening her daughter.
"I had never seen any sign of violence, but over the last month that she wanted to break up, I saw a different side to him."
The family knew Rickard had a criminal history and had tried to turn himself around.
She said she worried about her daughter going out with Rickard, but " . . . you can't help who your children go out with".
She firmly believed her daughter's murder was planned.
"It was not spur of the moment."
Justice French said the attack against Vicki Telfer was brutal and callous.
She told the court that when Rickard tried to attack Vicki's younger sister Lisa, Vicki, despite her injuries, managed to call out: "Don't you hurt my little sister."
The sisters tried in vain to help each other, leaving Lisa acutely traumatised.
Lisa Telfer was able to escape from the house while Rickard was in the kitchen getting another weapon.
The last she saw of her sister was her standing naked and bleeding at the end of her bed, probably conscious her 19-month-old daughter was still in the house.
"The terror she must have experienced is something the family say continues to haunt them," Justice French told Rickard.
Older sister Amy Telfer spoke to media after the sentencing, with the support of partner Stephen Chiles.
She said the family were pleased with the sentence but nothing would change the fact they lost a sister in the most brutal way.
Ms Telfer said it was a "great relief" for the family when Rickard pleaded guilty before the trial so they did not have to appear in court.
She said the family was coping well, under the circumstances.
Vicki's daughter, now aged 2, was developing well, but the hardest time was yet to come when she would have to learn to adjust to life without her mum, she said.
The sentencing had been "incredibly difficult" and it was only now the family could finally move on.
She thanked Victim Support, police and Dunedin residents for their help and support.
