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The family of slain Kennington woman Jacinta Pompei has remembered their beloved daughter and sister as kind, sweet-natured and the life of the party.
The 32-year-old was found dead on July 21 last year in the Mijuda Court unit she shared with partner Justin Kain Ellard, 37, who was found not guilty of her murder by reason of mental impairment on Thursday.
I will never hear the words again 'hello my father' as she comes through the front door.
- Domenic Pompei
In a statement read to the court, older sister Bernadette Pompei recalled car trips, sharing a room and travelling to school with the woman known affectionately as “Jay”.
Bernadette said Jacinta had been a loving, caring and very involved aunty to her seven nieces and nephews and told the court she had trouble sleeping and felt anxious much of the time since her sister’s death.
“Birthdays, anniversaries and milestones are all now bittersweet because Jay is not here to celebrate them with me,” she said.
“There’s a huge hole in my life. Her life and her love have all been robbed from the world.
“Some days I feel as though there’s only darkness.”
Ms Pompei’s friends and family spoke in court of their grief, compounded by “confusion … at not having answers from Justin”, and urged the court to consider imposing a supervision order which would see Ellard confined to a secure medical facility for life.
“I would never like another family to suffer the same trauma that I and my family have suffered,” her father Domenic Pompei said.
“I will never hear the words again 'hello my father' as she comes through the front door.”
Ms Pompei’s sister Geraldine Moyle said she had “lost [her] faith in humanity”, and despite the court’s ruling, the family still sought justice.
“He has given our family a life sentence,” she said.
"In my mind he will always be culpable.”