A woman has been found guilty of murdering her former friend, whose body was later dumped in a creek near Newcastle.
Carol Marie McHenry, 34, had pleaded not guilty to murdering her friend Danielle Easey, 29, in 2019.
McHenry's co-accused and former partner, Justin Kent Dilosa, 35, who has been on trial in the Supreme Court alongside McHenry, also pleaded not guilty to Ms Easey's murder.
The jury had been told the pair were allegedly involved in a joint criminal enterprise and had planned the murder of Ms Easey, who was killed in McHenry's bed in her Narara home.
After five days of deliberation, on Monday the jury found McHenry guilty of Ms Easey's murder.
The jury has not yet reached a verdict in the case of Mr Dilosa.
During the trial, the court heard Ms Easey was hit in the head with a hammer owned by McHenry and was wrapped in a chem suit and plastic, which was also owned by her once-close friend.
The jury was told McHenry allegedly made admissions to a friend after Ms Easey's death, saying: "The problem has been dealt with, people owed me money, and they got what's coming to them. I stabbed her, I stabbed her in the back."
McHenry's lawyer, Antony Evers, told the jury his client was addicted to ice and had not slept in three or four days prior to Ms Easey's death.
McHenry blamed Mr Dilosa for the murder and said she pretended to be asleep after the alleged attack.
Mr Evers told the court that Mr Dilosa committed the murder.
The court heard Ms Easey’s body was wrapped in plastic and put in a cupboard, which was then loaded into the back of Mr Dilosa’s van.
Mr Evers said Mr Dilosa parked the van at his home for several days and also drove it around with the body in the back.
"It was not only bizarre, it was almost like he wants people knowing what he has done," he said.
Mr Evers told the court that Mr Dilosa had 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 his van.
McHenry will be sentenced in April next year.
