A 37-year-old Perth man has admitted murdering his partner while their two children were at home in what police at the time said was "a horrific domestic incident".
Steven James Alan Dean appeared in the Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court this morning via video link from Casuarina Prison and formally pleaded guilty to murdering Emmerich Lasakar, 35, in April this year.
The couple's two daughters were in the family's Kewdale home when their mother was attacked and one of them made the call to triple-0.
Police and ambulances officers converged on the scene and Ms Lasakar was rushed to hospital, but she could not be saved.
Dean was arrested about 35 minutes later at a home in Saint James.
In the time between the murder and his arrest, Dean had committed an armed robbery on a service station.
He then crashed his car into a tree and fled to the St James residence where police discovered him.
Dean was injured in the crash and today he appeared in court in a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace.
As well as the murder charge, he pleaded guilty to offences of attempted aggravated armed robbery, aggravated burglary and reckless driving.
He admitted the burglary charge despite telling the court that "he didn't break in" to the St James house.
"They let me in to the house to wash my face," he said.
Dean is likely to face a life jail term when he is sentenced in the Supreme Court in October.
The morning after Ms Lasakar's murder, the WA Police Commissioner, Col Blanch revealed her death was a "domestic issue", describing what happened as "tragically sad for the families involved".
"Any death in a domestic violence situation is horrific in any community," he told ABC Radio Perth.
"Certainly, as police commissioner in WA, I'm horrified every time I hear about these deaths."
The couple's two daughters were being cared for by family members following their mother's death.