SOUTH PARIS, Maine (AP) A Maine man who beat his longtime girlfriend to death while the couple’s children were inside the home is going to prison for 50 years.

A judge imposed the sentence Tuesday on Rondon Athayde, who was convicted of murder in June.

Justice William Stokes called the domestic violence assault an “abomination,” adding that the images of 41-year-old Ana Cordero and the crime scene “stayed with me for several weeks,” the Sun Journal reported.

The couple had moved from Brazil to Maine. Stokes found that the abuse had been occurring long before the fatal attack in December 2018 at the couple’s home in Hartford in western Maine.

The couple’s 3- and 4-year-old children, who were home, were taken into protective custody of the state.