The family of murdered Bendigo man Darren Reid have told the Supreme Court of their grief and heartbreak following his death, and the profound impact it continues to have on their lives.
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Their victim impact statements were delivered at a pre-sentence hearing for Kate Stone, Mr Reid's long-term partner, who was found guilty last year of murdering him at their Long Gully home on the night of December 18, 2016.
Stone doused Mr Reid in enamel thinner and set him alight, leaving him with burns to 95 per cent of his body.
He succumbed to his injuries the following afternoon.
"The pain in my heart is unbearable," Mr Reid's mother Valda Webb said in a statement read out by Crown prosecutor Melissa Mahady.
Ms Webb recounted the last time she spoke to her son, when he told her he was in fear for his life, and how that conversation continued to haunt her.
The pain in my heart is unbearable.
- Valda Webb, mother of murdered man Darren Reid
Her son was unrecognisable when she visited him in hospital, she said, and she was unable to say goodbye in the way she would have liked.
"A mother is not supposed to bury her son," Ms Webb said.
The court heard Mr Reid and his sister Janyne Auditori were close and spoke often, and Mr Reid would open their conversations with the greeting, "What's cracking, sis?"
In a statement read by a support person, Ms Auditori spoke of her last moments with her beloved brother in the hospital after the attack.
"I lay with Darren and held his under the sheet to let him know I was there," she said.
Ms Auditori said her brother's murder continued to impact her life and she found it difficult to get from one day to the next.
"How could someone take another's life? How can there be no remorse or compassion?" she said.
Mr Reid's brother, Michael Auditori, remembered how he would help his brother with home renovation jobs and how they would meet up when driving trucks.
Since Mr Reid's death his anger and frustration had grown, Mr Auditori said, and he had "minimal care factor".
Mr Auditori spoke of how his brother lost the opportunity to see his family grow, and his hopes and dreams.
"Darren has lost his future," he said.
READ MORE: The trial
- Day 1: Murder trial begins for woman accused of setting partner alight
- Day 2: Murdered Bendigo man in fear for his life, mother tells court
- Day 3: Couple heard yelling in hours before fatal Long Gully fire
- Day 4: Murdered man told paramedic he did not know attacker, court hears
- Day 5: Daughter says three men set father on fire in Long Gully
- Day 6: Murder accused told police men were to blame for death
- Day 7: Man denies talking 'revenge' after confrontation with murdered man
- Day 8: Man not in area night of fatal Long Gully attack, court hears
- Day 9: Neighbours heard death threats before murder, court hears
- Day 10: Man tells court he was home the night of Darren Reid's murder
- Day 11: Long Gully murder accused said she 'did it', neighbour tells court
- Day 12: Long Gully murder trial hears DNA evidence
- Day 13: Fire expert gives evidence to Long Gully murder trial
- Day 14: Murder accused's police interview played in court
- Day 15: Forensic evidence points to guilt, prosecution says
- Day 16: Murdered man's words show Stone is not guilty, defence says
- The verdict: Long Gully woman found guilty of murder
Ms Auditori's partner Glen Richardson's statement explained how Mr Reid's murder had affected their family, and described how the woman he loved had not slept in peace since losing her brother.
Four of Mr Reid's nephews also gave impact statements to be read in court, detailing how their family would never be the same again.
"Seeing my mum lose her brother was hard, because I understand the relationship you have with a sibling and how much they mean to you," one nephew said.
Another spoke of how he missed learning about trucks and motorbikes from his uncle and his stories of driving trucks.
Defence counsel Peter Kilduff addressed the court regarding Stone's possible sentence.
Mr Kilduff told the court the 41-year-old maintained her innocence and would appeal her conviction.
He said the murder of Mr Reid was a serious example of the offence.
But the reason for the crime remained inexplicable, he said.
"The crime did not reveal any particular motive or pathological obsession," Mr Kilduff said.
Stone and Mr Reid had been in a relationship since she was a teenager, he said, and while there were issues in any long-term relationship, there were no serious problems or ill will.
Mr Kilduff said there was no evidence from Stone as to what issues were at play.
He said there was also no evidence as to the extent of any premeditation.
Mr Kilduff submitted the killing of Mr Reid was not at the same level as that of another case involving murder by fire, which the presiding judge described as the worst case scenario.
Justice Lesley Taylor said while that was accepted, Mr Reid's murder remained at the "top end of the scale" in terms of seriousness.
Stone suffered no psychological or psychiatric issues, Mr Kilduff said, and while there was not much money in the house growing up, she reported an "untroubled" childhood.
The court heard Mr Kilduff submitted that his client's prospects of rehabilitation must be good.
Prosecutor Ms Mahady said the Crown saw Stone's crime as being an extremely serious example of murder.
Quoting the same case as Mr Kilduff, Ms Mahady said death by burning was known to be accompanied by extreme pain.
It was an "incredible breach of trust", she said, when this violence occurred between intimate partners as people expected to be safe in their home and for their partner to look after them.
Ms Mahady said Justice Taylor could take into account evidence put to the jury that Stone chased Mr Reid down the street with a knife and neighbours regularly heard screaming coming from the house.
She also noted evidence that Mr Reid had told witnesses he wanted to leave Stone.
That two of the couple's five children were at home at the time of the murder, Ms Mahady said, was a serious aggravating feature of the crime.
She said the lies Stone told to her children were also aggravating, as were the lies she told police about others which led to their arrest on suspicion of murder.
"To implicate innocent people in an offence as serious as murder is significantly aggravating," Ms Mahady said.
Leaving court Stone protested the jury's verdict, saying she did not "kill her husband" and she loved him. A daughter replied, "We know you're innocent, Mum".
Stone will be sentenced next Friday.
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