Bush-hut murder may have gone on for hours, judge finds

A man will spend more than 20 years in prison for killing his partner in a remote forest in an "inexplicable" attack.

Rohen James Hanson was camping with his partner Dee Annear in the Bulga State Forest on the NSW mid-north coast when he murdered her in September 2021.

"This is a tragic case involving the brutal and unexplained killing of an innocent woman," Justice Ian Harrison said on Friday.

Justice Harrison rejected each of Hanson's multiple explanations for why he killed Ms Annear, including that it was in self-defence after she swung a glass bottle at him.

"Brutal and cruel and inexplicable", the judge labelled the killing.

But he stopped short of saying the 42-year-old planned the attack or intended to kill her from the outset.

The attack was a "loss of self-control that may h