"The ferocious and inhumane acts perpetrated on my parents will never leave me," the daughter of Irma Palasics, who was brutally killed 27 years ago, has said.
Speaking in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday, August 24, Elizabeth Mikita said writing her victim impact statement was "incredibly difficult".
"Reliving what happened is something I still find almost impossible to face," she told the packed courtroom.
In April, a jury found two men responsible for the death of 72-year-old Mrs Palasics in November 1999.
Joseph Vekony and Steve Fabriczy, both 71, killed the grandmother, and bashed her husband Gregor, in a violent robbery at the couple's McKellar home.
The men drove from Melbourne to Canberra, broke in, wearing balaclavas, and bound the couple before stealing $30,000 that was hidden in a secret compartment in the kitchen.
While Mr Palasics survived and was hospitalised with injuries, Mrs Palasics died during the home invasion.
This was the third time the couple had been robbed, having been burgled twice before in strikingly similar incidents while they lived in Red Hill.
The jury of 12 found Vekony was one of the people who had burgled them in 1998.
While they were found not guilty of murder, the jury returned guilty verdicts to charges including manslaughter, burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm after the eight week trial.
Fabriczy was arrested in 2023, after allegedly making admissions to an undercover police officer named 'Danny' who purported to be the boss of a criminal syndicate.
The DNA of both accused men was linked to a milk jug and water bottle that had been discovered in the Palasicses' fridge.
In court on Monday, Mrs Mikita said she sees "only the darkness left by the brutality of their actions".
"This will continue to torture me beyond the grave."
Grandson, John Mikita, described hearing police officers speaking to his parents on the night his grandmother died.
He was awake in the next room and said he couldn't hear every word spoken "but I remember when I realised something terrible had happened my grandmother".
"As the sun rose over Canberra the news was already being reported on the radio.
"For us the nightmare had already begun."
Mr Mikita told the court he missed his grandmother, "I loved her beyond words she was the person who cared for me when I was sick, she gave me hugs when I needed comfort and she spoiled me with treats".
In multiple statements read to the court, loved ones and family members recalled being interviewed by police, treated as suspects and having DNA samples taken.
They described the lasting trauma of having waited decades for answers in what had been Canberra's longest-running cold case.
ACT Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions deputy director Trent Hickey argued the manslaughter was "just short of murder" and in "the worst category" for the crime.
He said it warranted the maximum penalty, which for the ACT is 20 years.
"[Vekony and Fabriczy] did not care about the occupants they were too focused on their prize which was the money," Mr Hickey said.
"They must have walked past [Mrs Palasics'] body as they were ransacking the house or leaving."
Defence barrister Skye Jerome, representing Fabriczy, said both men were equally liable for the acts done, but "there is such limited evidence identifying who did what to who and with what".
Ms Jerome argued there was no evidence to show her client was the planner or the instigator.
She said Fabriczy had shown remorse in his confession to the undercover officer, and had placed a pillow under Mr Palasics' head before leaving the home.
Vekony's barrister, Travis Jackson, said his client who is diagnosed with liver cancer had an estimated life expectancy of about 16 months.
Mr Jackson conceded Vekony showed no remorse or acceptance of guilt, but said that due to his health his risk to the community was low.
He urged the court to take the 71-year-old's "vulnerabilities" into account that would cause prison to be more onerous.
Justice David Mossop is set to hand down Vekony and Fabriczy's sentence at a later date.
