Jurors have been told to walk "in the shoes" of ice addicts as the trial into the alleged murder of Danielle Easey nears its end.
The 29-year-old's mutilated body was wrapped in plastic and dumped in Cockle Creek at Killingworth, near Newcastle, in 2019.
Justin Kent Dilosa is accused of murdering Ms Easey and disposing of her remains.
Carol Marie McHenry is also accused of murder and has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.
The pair jointly faced trial in the New South Wales Supreme Court.
The court has been told Mr Dilosa murdered Ms Easey at a house in Narara on the Central Coast on August 17, before her body was moved into a van and dumped in the creek.
Police told the court a post-mortem examination revealed the mother of two had been seriously assaulted and stabbed.
'Ice dribble'
Mr Dilosa's barrister Angus Webb said in his closing address that "there was no clear logical reason" for Mr Dilosa to murder Ms Easey, because he had only met her two days before her death.
"He had nothing to do with her at all until a group of ice users gathered together at Mr Dilosa's residence for a nocturnal activity session where they were up all night," Mr Webb said.
He described Mr Dilosa's lifestyle as unusual, but said that did not make him a killer.
"Over and over again, sometimes for days, they carry on with the same apparent activity – using ice – and talking, as Mr Dilosa describes … 'ice dribble,'" Mr Webb said.
He then told the jurors they needed to imagine that lifestyle while they deliberated.
"One thing perhaps that is difficult to do – and what [Carol McHenry's barrister Tony Evers] said to do, and I agree – is to put yourselves in the shoes of those living in this very unfamiliar lifestyle," Mr Webb said.
"Chasing money, chasing drugs, calling in at clubs and playing poker machines — that was the life."
'Shaken' and 'upset'
Mr Evers said in his closing address that his client agreed to cover up the alleged murder out of fear of Mr Dilosa.
"A friend said she appeared shaken, upset, nervous and worried, which was consistent with being scared," Mr Evers said.
The barrister told the court that his client's life was marred by drugs and fraud, but she was not a killer.
But Mr Webb said the jury should reject evidence that Ms McHenry was living in fear.
"Ms McHenry moved around freely in the community between people she knew, sometimes with Mr Dilosa, sometimes without," Mr Webb said.
The court heard that Ms Easey was in the same "drug world" as her accused killers.
'Body in the back'
Mr Evers also noted what he called Mr Dilosa's "bizarre" behaviour, in the days before the body was dumped.
"He said he was returning a bag [to someone] when he took his van out, driving through the streets of Newcastle with a body in the back and then he drives back home," Mr Evers said.
"It was not only bizarre, it was almost like he wants people knowing what he has done."
Mr Evers told the court that Mr Dilosa told several people about the body and engaged in a conversation with one of them, who asked what was causing an odour coming from a cupboard in the back of Mr Dilosa's van.
He said Mr Dilosa was the killer and told jurors the only appropriate verdict for Ms McHenry was not guilty to murder.
Mr Webb said his client gave evidence for five days and said the jury should find him not guilty despite various admissions, including that he had dumped the body.
"If you come to the view that it is reasonably possible that what he told you is true, then you will acquit him," he said.
After the closing addresses the judge will give directions before the jury is sent out.
