CCTV captured Mary Benedito leaving the apartment just moments before Reo Marsh chased her down the hallway and forced her back inside.
A “coward” who hunted down the mother of his son in a hotel hallway, dragged her to their room and beat and strangled her in a jealous rage as their baby lay nearby has been sentenced for her murder.
On Monday in the Brisbane Supreme Court, Reo Te Whetu Marama Marsh was told the violence he unleashed on Mary “Mama” Benedito was “unjustifiable, inexcusable” and driven by his need to control her life.
Marsh, 39, pleaded guilty last week to murdering Benedito on the Gold Coast in November 2021.
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told the court Marsh had a troubling criminal history, including past domestic violence against other partners.
That history included the “choking of those partners” and a six-month prison sentence in 2013.
The court was told Marsh first assaulted Benedito when she told him she was pregnant with their child. She later showed family members bruising.
Crane said he had also “hit and choked her during the course of her pregnancy”.
Although the physical violence stopped after their son was born, the abuse did not.
Marsh became increasingly jealous and controlling, threatening to kill himself and “staking out” her home when he believed she had spent time with another man.
Justice Lincoln Crowley made it clear that “it was her right to see someone else”
The murder came just days after the family had buried Benedito’s grandmother in New Zealand.
After the funeral, Benedito had spoken of moving back home with her son. Instead, Marsh asked her to join him on a trip to the Gold Coast so they could spend time together.
They arrived at a Southport apartment on November 26, 2021. The first day was uneventful, and they enjoyed holiday activities such as swimming.
But by the afternoon of November 27, tensions had erupted.
At about 3pm, Benedito was captured on CCTV wearing sunglasses and carrying a backpack as she left the apartment.
Moments later, Marsh ran after her down the hallway, grabbed her and forced her back inside.
Inside the room, a neighbouring resident heard “loud verbal abuse” from Marsh and saw him on the balcony, towering over Benedito.
At 4.13pm, Marsh sent a text message to a former partner stating he had struck Benedito.
“I’ve given Mary a crack,” the message read.
Crane told the court she had been “severely beaten in that hotel room”
Photos shown to the judge revealed “repeated blows to the face”, “significant bruising to the arms, forearms” and what were described as “defensive type injuries” to her hands and fingers.
The cause of death was “manual strangulation of Ms Benedito”.
Crane said the strangulation was the final act, after the savage beating.
Despite the severity of her injuries, Crane said there was “no attempt” by Marsh to seek medical assistance.
Instead, he asked the front desk for additional towels. He did not alert staff to her condition.
By about 5pm, he understood “that she likely passed” before he finally called out for help.
He told neighbouring residents that Benedito had had a seizure. The residents tried to help her.
A hotel manager eventually entered the room and found Benedito in her underwear on the bedroom floor, vomit on her body.
Marsh told him “she’s dead”.
The manager retrieved a defibrillator and tried to revive her before paramedics arrived.
“By the time paramedics were called by others her injuries were not survivable,” Justice Crowley said.
When paramedics questioned him, Marsh told them to “f**k off” before fleeing.
He took their 11-month-old son and left the complex, sparking an Amber Alert.
The baby was later handed to friends at the Oxley Motor Inn and taken safely to Crestmead Police Station. He told his ex-partner: “I’ve f**ked up”, before fleeing again.
Police confirmed there were no allegations the child had been physically harmed.
Tracked through his mobile phone and pursued by police and the dog squad, Marsh was found hiding in a storage shed in Oxley just after midnight and arrested.
Benedito was placed on life support for three days.
Her younger cousin, Josiah Benedito-Taotafa, told the court those days were filled with “hope and dread”.
He described Benedito as someone he shared a “brother-sister” relationship with, saying she “brought warmth, energy, and care into every space she entered” and was “a devoted mother to her son”.
“I remember him only 11 months old … placed on his mother’s chest to say goodbye,” he said through tears.
“Since November 2021 the loss of Mama has deeply impacted our family.”
He told the court multiple family members now required mental health support, including himself. He suffers from depression and anxiety and experienced a severe mental health episode in the aftermath.
“Despite this we are still raising her son,” he said.
Benedito’s older sister recalled the “horrifying call” that night.
“Never in my life did I think I would bury my younger sister,” she said.
“Her proudest achievement was being a mum and you took that from her … To this day I am still struggling.”
Aunty Maria Benedito, who raised Ms Benedito from birth, looked directly at Marsh as she spoke.
“Reo you have taken a young mother’s life … You have caused so much pain.”
“You took Mama away from (her son),” she said.
“I don’t forgive you, I will never forgive you … You have destroyed so many lives Reo.”
In a letter read to the court, Marsh acknowledged the “unfairness” of his actions and said they were “too severe” to ask for forgiveness.
Defence barrister Charlotte Smith said he was “genuinely remorseful” and pointed to a childhood where domestic violence was “considered normal”.
Justice Crowley was unmoved.
“You abused her, you assaulted her, you captured her,” he said.
He described the killing as “rage-fuelled domestic violence caused by your jealousy”
“You sought to control her life.”
“You showed no compassion or concern … You fled the scene like a coward.”
He sentenced Marsh to life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole after serving 20 years. He has already served four years in custody.
Addressing the family, Justice Crowley said those who delivered victim impact statements had shown “courage and strength”.
“I saw your eyes closed … I hope you were listening,” he told Marsh.
“You shattered their lives.
“You took her from her family and her community.”
Outside court, Josiah said the past four years had been marked by “grieving”, trauma and declining mental health, but also “strength and resilience”.
He challenged men across Australia to confront their own behaviour.
“In court today, we’ve heard the defence of the defendant come up with excuses of his behaviour and justify this act because of his trauma,” he said.
“Men … fix yourselves so you don’t have to hurt anyone else.”
He said domestic violence was “alive, and it’s infectious” and urged others to “call out their s****y behaviours”.
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