Manchao Li has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering ex-wife Zhimmin Yang and breaching a protection order.
He faces a minimum non-parole period of 19 years for the homicide, and another three years for the protection order breach. These will be served concurrently.
Li was found guilty of the offences during a two-week trial ending last month.
Throughout the trial, the jury heard how 65-year-old Li was "obsessed with revenge" and that it "consumed his every breath".
Li was angry that a decade-long legal battle over the ownership of a Christchurch house had ended badly.
In the years prior to her murder, Li sent her threatening letters attached to dead animals, he told his flatmates he wanted her to die and was trying to get her deported to their home in China.
Yang had protection orders in place to stop him, but in July last year he found her at a bus stop, tackled her and dragged her into a bush, stabbing her 12 times.
Nearby construction workers heard the attack, including Yang's screams for "help" and for Li to "stop" before she was killed.
Li was found at the scene with blood on his face and charged with murder.
Defence Lawyer Ron Mansfield argued that although he stabbed her to death there was no murderous intent. When closing his case Mansfield told the court Li was a man "plagued by mental health issues".
"This kind of brazen assault in front of a number of observers, is not done by someone who is thinking about their actions and if their actions will kill," Mansfield said.
After six and a half hours of deliberating, the Jury disagreed, finding him guilty of murder and not manslaughter.
