A devastated widow who watched in horror as her husband was killed by an ice-crazed robber has broken down while pleading for an overhaul of Victoria's justice system.

Bridget O'Toole said she is disgusted at the sentence handed to Gavin Perry, 27, who fatally stabbed her husband, Dermot O'Toole, as he rushed to protect her during a botched robbery at their Hastings jewellery store in July last year.

Grieving wife slams sentence handed to husband's killer

Mrs O'Toole was forced to witness her husband's violent death - a nightmare that plays over and over in her mind.
The parolee was high on the drug ice and brandishing a 20-centimetre knife when he burst into the couple's shop, pushed Mrs O'Toole through a glass cabinet and stabbed Mr O'Toole as he lay helpless on his back.

Dermot O'Toole, his wife Bridget and their sons. Photo: Supplied

Perry must serve a minimum of 23 years, despite 200 prior offences, before he is considered for release, in a sentence Mrs O'Toole described as devastating.
"The laws need to change," she said.
"I had to watch that. I had to watch him (her husband) die in front of me. I don't think 20 years is justifiable."

Dermot O'Toole was fatally stabbed as he tried to protect his wife, Bridget, during a botched robbery at their Hastings jewellery store. Photo: Supplied

The only explanation Perry offered for his attack on the O'Tooles was that he had been abusing drugs.
Perry was on parole when he committed three armed robberies in six days in July 2013 - the final crime targeting the O'Tooles' shop.
He had been released from jail in early 2013, after serving four years of a six-year term for armed robbery offences.
Mrs O'Toole says she will write to the Attorney General pleading for violent killers to be locked up for life.
"When does it happen that you can go out and commit multiple crimes and get such huge reductions for all these crimes?" she said.