Drug-addled thug went out for a pizza after he beat his girlfriend and left her to die a long, slow, agonising death

Jessica Geddes' body had been battered and broken Her partner Robert Rickerby pleaded guilty to manslaughter He had bashed her after a meeting with corrections officials  READ MORE: Wife is charged with murder after partner was found dead 

A meth-addict killer went out for a pizza after he savagely bashed his girlfriend and left her for dead.

A court was told the body of Melbourne woman Jessica Geddes, 27, looked like she was a car crash victim when forensic officers later examined her.

On Monday, her violent, controlling partner Robert Rickerby, 30, of Endeavour Hills, appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria for a pre-sentence plea hearing for manslaughter after a plea deal to avoid a possible life sentence for the crime. 

The court heard Rickerby had been serving a community corrections order on November 6, 2020 when he killed his partner in a violent rage. 

He had originally been charged with murder before it was downgraded to manslaughter on the eve of his trial in May after he struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty.

Jessica Geddes, 27, (pictured) had been isolated and starved by her boyfriend, who also took her Centrelink payments, and abused and assaulted her over a three-year period

Robert Rickerby has spent 800 days behind bars awaiting justice. He is pictured entering the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday

On Monday, the court heard Rickerby brutally beat Ms Geddes after spending five hours on a web meeting with Corrections Victoria staff tasked with rehabilitating the thug.

Rickerby had received the community order for a charge of recklessly causing serious injury to a victim he ran over in his car.

The court heard Ms Geddes had already been at the end of countless beatings at the hands of Rickerby before she died.

A list of those injuries took Crown prosecutor Campbell Thomson close to 10 minutes to describe.

Ms Geddes sustained more than 50 skeletal injuries, according to a post-mortem examination.

Court documents claimed her injuries included 16 rib fractures, four fractures in the vertebrae and 10 fractures across both hands.

Seated at the rear of the court room, Rickerby sat with his eyes closed throughout most of the hearing.

Police believe Rickerby bashed Ms Geddes after she was seen buying food at a nearby 7-Eleven that afternoon.

Customers at the convenience shop recalled seeing Ms Geddes in a distressed state, telling strangers she was hungry and scared.

Before hooking up with Rickerby in late 2017, Ms Geddes had weighed between 70-79kg.

She weighed just 46kg at the time of her slow and painful death.

Robert Rickerby (pictured) was charged with murdering his girlfriend Jessica Geddes, who he met on a dating app. But he recently took a deal with the prosecution and pleaded guilty to manslaughter

Robert Rickerby avoided a murder charge by pleading to manslaughter

After bashing Ms Geddes, the court heard the unemployed painter bothered his father to order him a couple of pizzas.

Rickerby was seen collecting those pizzas at 5.55pm that day, while Ms Geddes lay half-naked and mortally wounded in bed.

Police later found some of those pizzas had been eaten, with a half-eaten slice found next to Ms Geddes' body.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Ms Geddes' mum Saasha Brimble, the distraught mother said she could never look at or eat a pizza again.

'He had told me he was sending my daughter home in a body bag. Which had come true,' she told the court.

Ms Brimble said she now struggled to get out of bed and had been financially ruined by the trauma of losing her daughter.

'I have isolated myself from society and the world,' she told the court.

'I suffer from depression, anxiety and the nightmares of the terror that my daughter must have endured at the hands of one very evil man.'

Despite her horrific injuries, the court heard it was decided to offer Rickerby a manslaughter deal due to fears any murder conviction might get overturned on appeal.

Forensic experts believe it likely took Ms Geddes 'hours' to die.

'There would have been a gradual decline in the functioning after which she had been beaten, possibly lasting hours,' Mr Thompson said.

Rickerby's barrister Colin Mandy SC - the same barrister hired by alleged mushroom killer Erin Patterson - said his client deserved a discounted sentence for his guilty plea.

'The appropriate charge was always manslaughter,' he said.

'The injuries that were caused are not consistent with murderous intent.'

Saasha Brimble (pictured with her granddaughter Arianna-Leigh at her eldest daughter Jessica Geddes' funeral) said police failed her daughter and other women after they took 18-months to charge Rickerby with murder - after media attention

Mr Mandy said his client accepted his actions caused the death of his partner and he was now sorry for what he had done.

'His actions resulted in the unintentional death of his partner and he's haunted by that,' he said.

The court heard Rickerby had attempted to apologise to the family of his victim, but it had not been accepted.

'Their anger and sorrow means that they do not accept his expressions of regret and never will and that is something he will live with,' Mr Mandy said.

Mr Mandy said his client blamed his inability to cope with their 'chaotic relationship' was behind his abhorrent behaviour.

The court heard Ms Geddes had also struggled with drug addiction and mental health issues leading up to her death.

This included claims of self-harm that previously saw her drive a car into a pole, punch holes in walls and 'fight with invisible people'.

The court heard while police had previously intervened in allegations of violence by Rickerby against Ms Geddes, they had allowed an intervention order to lapse at the time if her death.

Rickerby will be sentenced at a date to be fixed.