David Xavier will serve a minimum of 18 years in jail (Image: Police handout)
A jealous boyfriend who stabbed his partner more than 50 times after becoming convinced she was cheating on him has been jailed for at least 18 years.
David De-Andrade Xavier, 38, controlled and sexually abused Andreia Guilherme, 29, while they lived together in Canning Road, Croydon, south London.
Xavier did not like Ms Guilherme using her phone or seeing her family and blackmailed her into having sex with him.
Ms Guilherme, who worked as a medium and tarot card reader under the name ‘Chama Violeta’, wanted to leave Xavier and was looking for a house before he stabbed her to death.
The delivery driver denied but was convicted of murder by an Old Bailey jury after just two hours and six minutes of deliberation.
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Sentencing him to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years, Judge Anthony Leonard, KC, told him: “You met Andreia in April 2019. Two to two-and-a-half years later your relationship turned sour.
“You made sexual demands of her, not only when she found sex too uncomfortable, but also when she had fallen out of love with you.
“You only allowed her, for example, to go shopping, if she first had sex with you. She described this as rape.
“You became aware that she was speaking to two other men. This added to your feelings of jealousy that led to you killing her.
“Whilst there is almost always fault on both sides when a relationship fails, the fault was to a large part your own.
“In your diary, you wrote; ‘I do not forgive cheating or deceitfulness from anyone’ which largely shows you were seeking to punish her.”
Joana Guilherme, Andreia’s sister, needed medical treatment to cope with the loss of her sibling and suffering from panic attacks, she said in a written statement.
She said: “It is still an open wound to me and I would like justice to be made. I hope that coming here has not been for nothing.”
Prosecutor Paul Raudnitz, KC, earlier told jurors how the couple were both from the island of Madeira but met in the UK.
David Xavier was sentenced at the Old Bailey today (Image: Getty)
He said: “By the time of her death on the night of Friday 11 December 2020, Andreia Guilherme it seems no longer wanted sexual relations with the defendant, sought to end the relationship with him and also to end their cohabitation.
“She, it seems, had developed an interest in the possibility of relationships with other men.
“For his part, the defendant had become increasingly jealous and angry about Andreia Guilherme’s rejection of him and what he perceived to be her developing interests in other men, and theirs in her.
“The defendant had, it seems, also blackmailed Andreia Guilherme to have sexual intercourse with him. That had only driven Andreia Guilherme further away from him.
“On the night of Friday 11 December 2020 the defendant had been drinking. A row developed between the defendant and Andreia Guilherme at their address.
“Andreia Guilherme recorded several exchanges between herself and the defendant on her mobile phone.
“They record a heated argument between Andreia Guilherme and the defendant.
“Andreia Guilherme said that she hated the defendant. The defendant accused her of being a ‘woman of several men’.
“She said that he was a sexual pervert and that she should have accused him of sexual harassment.”
She texted a friend saying “this abnormal just got home and just drinks” and said he was “mixing wine with fire water and liquor”.
At 11.32pm she texted her cousin the words “he picked up a knife”, and five minutes later she texted the defendant’s sister the words “David is crazy pointed a knife at me”.
At 11.44pm Andreia Guilherme she then sent an audio clip to a friend in Maderia which proved to be the last communication she ever made, said Mr Raudnitz.
He continued: “In the recording, Andreia Guilherme was crying and extremely upset.
“She said that she did not want the defendant near her, and that he should get out of the flat.
“She is heard to say in Portuguese, words which translate as ‘You are abnormal! You are crazy! You are disgusting! I hate you! You are crazy!”
Shortly afterwards, Mr Raudnitz said, Xavier stabbed her to death using a sharp black-handled kitchen knife which was later recovered at the premises.
Ms Guilherme sustained over 50 stab wounds to the front and back of her body during what he called the “frenzied” attack, some inflicted with sufficient force so as to damage her internal organs and leave knife marks on the bone and cartilage of her ribs.
He continued: “Among her injuries were cuts to her hand where she had tried to defend herself.
“Two minutes and 19 seconds after Andreia Guilherme’s last communication David Xavier called his sister.
“The defendant told her that Andreia Guilherme was dead.
“Lina Freitas and her husband, Fabio Freitas, lived nearby in Croydon.
“They rushed by car to the flat. By the time they arrived, they found David Xavier holding a kitchen knife and covered in blood, and Andreia Guilherme apparently lifeless on the floor of the bedroom.”
Xavier said “I think I’ve killed her” and claimed “she stabbed me so I stabbed her back” and that she was “betraying” him, the court heard.
Mr Raudnitz said: “He said that Andreia had met someone else and that she had accused him of seeing someone else.
“He said that they had an argument in the living room. She had broken a glass on the table and then grabbed a knife and stabbed him.
“He managed to get the knife and stabbed her with the same knife.”
Emergency services were called, but despite significant Ms Guilherme could not be saved, and shortly thereafter she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ms Guilherme had no longer wished to have sex with Xavier in the months before her death.
She had sent a friend photographs of bruises to her chest that she said Xavier had caused when he was drunk and jealous.
She told friends her relationship was over and she was looking for a house to move out to.
Xavier, of Canning Road, Croydon, denied but was convicted of murder.
Speaking after his conviction, Detective Chief Inspector Matt Webb, who led the investigation said: “This was a horrific, frenzied attack against a woman who didn’t stand a chance. Xavier was armed with a knife and clearly enraged.
“Andreia’s family has lived through the horror of receiving those final messages on the night of her death, and, due to Xavier pleading not guilty, they were forced to relive that night again at the trial.
“It is right that he is convicted of murder, no set of circumstances could justify what he did.
“Nothing can bring Andreia back, but I hope that Xavier’s conviction brings her family some comfort.”