A young Sydney woman who stabbed her abusive estranged partner to death on the street has escaped going to jail after a judge found the killing was done in the most 'extreme circumstances'. Jessica Silva stabbed her boyfriend of four years, James Polkinghorne, five times on Mother's Day in 2012 after he arrived outside her Marrickville home in Sydney fuelled on the drug 'ice'. The 25-year-old domestic violence victim sat down and wept after Justice Clifton Hoeben sentenced her to two years' imprisonment. However the prison term was suspended on the condition of good behaviour. Scroll down for video . Jessica Silva was sentenced to a suspended sentence of two years' imprisonment on Friday . The 24-year-old was found guilty of the manslaughter of her partner of four years, James Polkinghorne (pictured) in 2012 . Silva pleaded not guilty to her partner's murder on the basis of self-defence, but after five days of deliberation, a jury found her guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. In handing down his sentence, Justice Hoeben said he accepted Silva's comments that Mr Polkinghorne had been 'very abusive'. 'I dealt with it for so long, I thought I could change him,' Silva had said. While he found Silva did intend to cause Mr Polkinghorne grievous bodily harm when she stabbed him in his back and head, he said the situation was 'exceptional'. 'The factual circumstances are most unusual with the steady build up of fear on the part of the offender arising from the escalating threats of violence emanating from the deceased. 'The offending was committed under extreme circumstances in the agony of the moment.' She  faced the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Friday where her jail sentence was suspended . During the course of her trial, Silva repeatedly wept in court as the jury heard a series of abusive phone calls and texts sent by Mr Polkinghorne to her in the lead up to his death. In one, Mr Polkinghorne threatened to 'cave her face in'. Another message, from the day he was stabbed, read: 'I hope your mother gets poisoned by the flowers that you give her and you get gang raped.' Mr Polkinghorne, the court heard, had become increasingly aggressive due to his use of the drug ice. Silva stabbed James Polkinghorne five times  after he arrived outside her Marrickville home in Sydney fuelled on the drug 'ice' The court heard that Mr Polkinghorne arrived outside Ms Silva's family home on the day he was killed after sending threatening text messages to her phone, months after she had ended their relationship. Ms Silva said he then punched her and ripped her pants before she ran inside to retrieve a knife with which to defend herself, while he continued to argue with her brother and father outside. Upon returning to the scene, she stabbed him in the shoulder, chest and back. Before his death, during a phone conversation between Silva and her brother Miguel, she was heard saying: 'He reckons he's gonna come and kill me, right now’. When Miguel tells her to call the cops, an increasingly distressed Silva replies: 'Why do you think I don't tell them so he can bash me up all the f***ing time. I'm sick of it ... and I don't know what to f***ing do any more.' 'Is there anyone we can f***ing contact ... to get him killed or something?' she asks, later adding: 'Don't worry I'll f***ing stab him myself'. Justice Hoeben called the situation 'exceptional' after accepting Silva's comments that Mr Polkinghorne had been 'very abusive' Silva also believed he had shot and killed Nikolas Argiropoulos, whose body was found in a park in Birchgrove in Sydney's inner-west on March 22, 2012. Outside court, her lawyer Adam Houda said there were no winners in this tragedy. 'My client has had to endure the most extreme forms of physical, verbal and psychological abuse and in that light the sentence imposed today was the appropriate one considering the extraordinary circumstances of this case,' he said. 'It's now time to heal.'
Jessica Silva stabbed James Polkinghorne    outside her home in 2012 . Silva, who had endured an abusive relationship with the victim, had pleaded not guilty on the basis of self-defence . She was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to a suspended two years' in prison after Justice Hoeben called the situation 'exceptional'
The trial heard abusive phone calls and texts Silva received from Mr Polkinghorne, including one in which he threatened to 'cave her face in'