By ninemsn
A Brisbane man asked his wife how she wanted to be killed and told her to write a goodbye note to their son before giving her a cocktail of drugs, a court has heard.
Kevin Brooks, 52, planned to murder his estranged wife Julie-Ann Brooks after abducting her at knife-point and taking her back to the house they used to share in December 2007, the Courier Mail reports.
The Brisbane Supreme Court was told Brooks, a former Qantas baggage handler, accused his wife of cheating on him. The couple had separated four months earlier.
Once they were in the home, Brooks asked Ms Brooks whether should would like to be stabbed to death or take a fatal overdose of medication.
He then gave her two glasses of wine, a final cigarette and a notepad instructing her to write a "suicide note" to the couple's 22-year-old son Matthew.
"It is going to be the last thing you are ever going [to write] so you better say what you want to," he said.
The court heard yesterday Ms Brooks initially chose to be stabbed but then changed her mind to taking the medication.
She lapsed into unconsciousness after her estranged husband gave her 14 pills from three different bottles.
But she was spared death because Brooks later changed his mind and called an ambulance.
Justice Ann Lyons yesterday sentenced Brooks to five years in jail, with four years suspended. He is likely to be released in June next year.
Justice Lyons said she took into account Brooks's good character and lack of criminal history in making her decision.
