The man convicted of murdering a Christchurch mother has been sentenced to life imprisonment and must serve a minimum of 20 years.
Malcolm Chaston had admitted stabbing Vanessa Pickering, 27, and dumping her body down a cliff at Godley Head Reserve in Christchurch on 8 February last year.
Chaston also abandoned her seven-year-old daughter after the murder.
The Crown had sought a sentence of preventive detention, which keeps high-risk offenders in prison for an indeterminate time.
At the High Court sitting in Rangiora on Monday, Chaston was also sentenced on a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual violation on another woman, and one count of unlawful sexual connection.
Justice French sentenced the 40-year-old to preventive detention with a minimum of nine years' jail on each of these charges.
The judge said Chaston's prior offending was extensive, with 71 previous convictions for violence and sexual offending which had escalated in seriousness as he got older.
The court was told Chaston had not shown any interest in taking part in rehabilitation and had attacked Ms Pickering, a mother of one, while on bail for an assault charge.
Justice French said the sentences would act as a red flag when Chaston finally appeared before the Parole Board.
"There are no mitigating factors relating to the offending. In my view, the circumstances of this murder and its aftermath are so horrendous and repugnant as to justify additional denunciation."
During the sentencing, her mother Rachel Kitson broke down in tears while telling Chaston of her enduring pain, and asked him why he subjected her daughter to such a prolonged and premeditated attack.
Ms Kitson told Chaston that he was an animal for stabbing her daughter to death in his cold, calculating way.
Following the sentencing, there were cheers from the Pickering family and one person pointed at Chaston and called out "utu", which means revenge.
In February, Radio New Zealand reported that prison guards tried to raise the alarm about Chaston in emails to the Sensible Sentencing Trust in 2007, saying he had talked about wanting to hurt women badly.
Former prison guard Trevor Probert says it was obvious Chaston would re-offend and believes Ms Pickering would still be alive today if he had been given preventive detention following his third conviction for sexual assault.
