Man 'who could not take no for an answer' jailed for attack on ex

A man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend "numerous times" outside a Sydney gym in 2024 has been handed a maximum sentence of 13 years in prison.

Anthony Monteleone was jailed after a jury heard he waited 40 minutes for the woman before attacking her in "fairly brazen" circumstances.

Motneleone will have to serve a prison term of eight and a half years before he is eligible for parole in 2033.

A woman who survived a domestic violence stabbing at the hands of a former partner who could not accept rejection has told a court that the warning signs of stalking and harassment "should have been enough".

Anthony Monteleone was on Friday handed a maximum sentence of 13 years in prison after he was found guilty in late March of wounding with intent to murder, after a jury heard evidence about their short but intense relationship in 2024.

He became "infatuated" and was unable to accept her unequivocal decision to end things, the jury heard, ignoring her repeated requests to cease contact.

An AVO was put in place in April that year, which Monteleone breached.

In May 2024, he waited for some 40 minutes in the car park of an Alexandria gym and attacked the woman as she walked to her car, stabbing her several times to the head, neck and chest.

At trial, Monteleone's lawyers denied he had an intention to kill, but the jury rejected his account.

Appearing in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court, the woman told a judge it was not a "misunderstanding" but a deliberate attack "from a man who could not take no for an answer".

Anthony Monteleone, who stabbed his former girlfriend outside a south Sydney gym. (Facebook)

In her victim impact statement, she reflected that her story was "not just about what was done" to her, but spoke to a wider problem.

She said she stood before the court not only as a victim of a violent crime, but as a woman and "a voice for those who no longer have one".

"Action must come before violence, not after, because not every woman survives," she said.

She described the stabbing as not "just an attack on my body," but an attack on her sense of safety, trust and freedom.

The woman said the sentencing was not just about what was done to her, but recognising "the seriousness of this kind of behaviour" and ensuring it was not "minimised".

"When violence like this is excused, overlooked or reduced, it creates a space for it to happen again," she said.

"What happened to me should have never happened, and my responsibility now is to make sure it is not ignored."

In submissions prior to the sentence, defence counsel Claire O'Neill said Monteleon