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A jealous fiancée who told a friend 'I'm about to stab this c***' has been jailed for manslaughter after plunging an eight-inch knife into his chest.

Monique Sullivan, 31, claimed he had been abusive and she was in fear for her life when she lashed out at Andrew Moore during a howling blizzard on a Wyoming ranch in February this year.

But she was jailed for between 12 and 17 years by a judge at Lincoln County District Court who heard she was 'in a rage' after he flirted with a friend during a night of heavy drinking.

'I know I've hurt so many people and caused so much pain to his family and friends, and I'm so sorry for that,' she wept as she was sentenced.

'I couldn't imagine my life without Andrew.'

Monique Sullivan, 31, wept and apologized as she apologized for stabbing her fiancé to death

Andrew Moore and Monique Sullivan were part of an international crew of sheep shearers migrating across the US to work on farms when they found themselves stranded on a remote ranch in a bitter Wyoming winter

Sullivan claimed she had endured months of abuse from Moore who had joked about her weight and tried to choke her five months earlier 

The New Zealander and his Australian fiancee were part of an international sheep-sheering crew moving between ranches across the US when they were given jobs at Taliaferro Ranch in south Lincoln County, Cowboy State Daily reported.

The pair were living in a camper and had been rowing for weeks as they struggled to cope with the harsh winter conditions on the farm outside Kemmerer.

On the night of February 19 the couple were drinking with other shearers at a rowdy party in the 'boys' trailer', and Moore spilled some beer on Sullivan's friend Stacy Hikawai.

Sullivan stormed off to her camper followed by Hikawai who tried to comfort her.

'Throughout the conversation, Miss Sullivan kept getting angrier and angrier,' Lincoln County Attorney Spencer Allred told the court.

'She wasn't part of this family. She felt lonely. She wanted to go home.'

Sullivan had sent Hikawai a series of texts the previous day complaining about her fiancé.

'He's in the worst mood, he's so f***ing angry so he can cry about it,' she wrote.

On the day she killed her fiancé, she texted Hikawai at 6.38am to tell her: 'I'm about to stab this c***, he's a moody c***.'

Stacy Hikawai (front) awoke to see Moore bleeding and blood on Sullivan's hands after Moore had 'flirted' with her earlier that evening 

The popular Kiwi had learned his craft on tours of Scotland, Australia, and the US 

Moore (right) with friends two years before he was stabbed to death by his fiancee 

With Hakawai now passed out on the bed, returned to the boys' trailer and hauled her fiancé back to their camper.

'He kept saying stuff. He was calling me names. He was insulting my family,' Sullivan told police later.

She claimed that he charged at her with clenched teeth before yelling and pushing her to the ground.

Hikawai opened her eyes to see Moore bleeding and blood on Sullivan's hands before fleeing the camper.

Sullivan told police she had grabbed a knife from the counter and had not realized how close her fiancé was standing when she lashed out with it.

But the court heard it went through his Carhart coat, two jackets and eight inches of his chest.

'That's extreme force, folks,' Allred told the jury.

'A great amount of force was used to put this knife into his chest.'

Sullivan told police his last words had been: 'Why did you do that Mons?'

Deputy prosecutor John Bowers asked the jury: 'If you'd just attacked somebody and your dying words are, 'Why did you do that,' what does that tell us?

'He had no idea why she'd just killed him. Because he was not attacking her.'

Moore was taken to the South Lincoln Medical Centre where he died that night, and Sullivan too was taken to hospital after attempting to slash her wrist while police were on their way.

'Just cut my throat. I just want to die,' she told paramedics.

Her defense attorneys claimed she had endured months of abuse from Moore who had tried to choke her five months earlier, yanked her out of a truck and joked about her weight.

They claimed she had been left lonely and isolated among the other shearers on the remote ranch in the grim winter conditions

'It creeps into every part of your being,' Bennet tolkd the court.

'They are Andrew's friends. Not hers. And then they gaslight her: 'Aw, you're taking it too serious, we're just joking around. We'll pour beer and laugh at you'.'

The jury rejected a charge of second-degree murder but convicted her of voluntary manslaughter last month.

Judge Joseph Bluemel ordered her to pay $7,000 to Moore's family as he jailed her and noted she would probably be deported back to Australia at the end of her sentence.

'I didn't want to be the person that did that to them,' she told the court.

'I've caused so much pain and suffering to my family as well. I'm really sorry for that.

'And I'm ready to face the consequences of my actions.'

A friend of Moore's who raised the money to bring him home to New Zealand was among those who paid tribute to him.

Moore (left) recorded a 2012 charity skydive on his Facebook page

'Andrew was a very loved person throughout the shearing industry, and I know he will be sorely missed by all of us who knew him,' said friend Michael Jeffries

'For seven years we lived and breathed shearing, touring around the world, working in Scotland, Australia, the USA, and New Zealand,' Michael Jeffries wrote.

'We also competed at many speed shear competitions in Wales, Australia, and New Zealand.

'I called him my brother, as do many of our friends, he was definitely the life of the party and had such a heart of gold.

'Andrew was a very loved person throughout the shearing industry, and I know he will be sorely missed by all of us who knew him.'

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