'Bondage master' Bob Bashara sobs in court as he gets life in prison for arranging his wife's murder so he could devote more time to his sex slaves
- Bashara was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of his wife Jane, whose body was found in her car in a Detroit alleyway in 2012
- Prosecutors said he coerced a handyman to strangle her in their garage
- In his sentencing hearing on Thursday, Jane's mother said she wanted to think about him rotting in hell every day
- During his own address to the court, he protested his innocence
- The jury heard how he wanted his wife dead so he could devote more time to his two mistresses, who shared his love of domination and bondage
Businessman Bob Bashara has been sentenced to life behind bars for arranging the murder of his wife so that he could devote more time to women who shared his love for sexual bondage.
During the hearing, the former Rotary Club president wiped away tears as Jane Bashara's mother and sister told the court about their pain in the three years since she was found killed.
'Every day I live I want to think about you rotting in jail and someday burning in hell,' his mother-in-law Lorraine Engelbrecht told him in court.
Wayne County Judge Vonda Evans told called Bashara 'a master of manipulation' as he handed down the sentence.
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Sobs: Bob Bashara wipes his eyes after hearing his mother-in-law speak about the pain of losing her daughter during his sentencing hearing on Thursday. He has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife
'You lived in two worlds,' Evans said. 'Light - your family, community and friends. And darkness where your lies were your truth and your truth was a lie... I have no mercy for you.'
'Today there will be justice for Jane.'
Bashara, 57, known as 'Master Bob,' was found guilty of first-degree murder in December but throughout the trial, he had repeatedly declared his innocence.
'I loved my Jane dearly,' he defiantly told the court on Thursday. 'I will never stop fighting for justice and truth until my hands are raw, blood comes from my eyes and I take my last breath. I am innocent of anything to do with my wife's' death.
The judge told him: 'The only person you ever loved was yourself', the Detroit Free Press reported.
Jane Bashara's sister, Julie Rowe, had similarly scathing words as she addressed him in court.
'Bob lied to all of us. Bob manipulated all of us,' Rowe said. 'Bob utterly betrayed all of us.
Moving: Jane Bashara's mother Lorraine Engelbrect tells the court of her pain at losing her daughter
Anger: Jane's sister, Julie Rowe, also gave a statement in court on Thursday, saying: 'Bob lied to all of us'
Protests: Speaking to the court, Bashara again insisted that he was innocent in his wife's killing
'Every moment will be all the more sweet knowing that you are uncomfortable, miserable, alone and in prison where you belong for the rest of your pathetic life.'
The salacious trial had revealed his secret life in Grosse Pointe Park: how the businessman used cocaine and hosted men and women at a sex dungeon beneath a bar called the Hard Luck Lounge.
It initially appeared that Mrs Bashara, a marketing executive who was found killed in her Mercedez-Benz in a Detroit alleyway, had been targeted at random.
Bashara had even encouraged police to investigate other theories, such as his wife's alleged drug use, suggesting that she may have been killed by a drug dealer, prosecutors said.
But an investigation soon revealed how Bashara had coerced a handyman with a low IQ to strangle his wife in the family garage before abandoning her body, prosecutors said.
The court heard how the father-of-two was eager to begin his new life with mistresses, Rachel Gillett and Janet Leehmann, and how he would email Gillett expressing his desire to be with her.
Killed: Jane Bashara, left, was strangled and her body was left in her car in a Detroit alleyway in 2012
Scene: Her husband had coerced a handyman to murder her in the garage of their Grosse Pointe home, pictured, so that he could start a new life with his mistresses, prosecutors said
During emotional testimony, Gillett revealed that Bashara had blindfolded her and another woman in 2009 and had taken them to his family home while his wife and children were away. The three then had sex in his marital bed.
'He would say anything and do anything to be with Rachel Gillett. Several people have indicated such,' prosecutor Lisa Lindsey said.
'He created one world; he was living in another. And when those two worlds collided, Jane Bashara ended up dead.'
But defense attorneys had urged the jury to keep their focus on the killer, handyman Joe Gentz, not Bob Bashara. They said Bashara could have continued his affairs and alternative lifestyle without getting rid of his wife.
'She is the breadwinner,' Michael McCarthy said in his final remarks. 'Why would he want her dead? There is reasonable doubt in this trial.'
'Plot': Joe Gentz, pictured, is serving 17 years in prison for the murder of Jane Bashara. Gentz, who is mentally impaired, refused to testify at Bashara's trial but claimed that the businessman paid him for the killing
Unhappy marriage: A friend of Jane Bashara's said in court that the woman had no trust in her husband, who constantly lied to her, took money without permission and was a 'flirt' with other women
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