Murder crushes expectant mum
It was a pregnancy filled with sadness, pain, fear and deep sorrow.
Kelly Ingham should have been celebrating the impending birth of her child.
Instead, Ms Ingham was left heartbroken and confronted by the crushing reality that her daughter would never know her father, David John Houston.
The 26-year-old father-to-be had been murdered in an unprovoked and shocking attack by three drug-fuelled offenders in May last year.
Victim impact statements tendered to the Supreme Court during the sentencing of Amanda Jane Kelly this week reveal the devastating consequences for those left behind after Mr Houston's murder.
Ms Ingham describes a feeling of not being connected to anything as she grapples with the pain of the loss of her partner.
"She cannot sleep or eat and cannot leave her house out of fear," Justice Michael Corboy said.
"She no longer trusts people and suffers from panic attacks. She has nightmares, has received counselling and takes antidepressants.
"Her anxiety and fear contributed to a difficult pregnancy, which she was forced to endure without the deceased.
"She had been hospitalised as a result of her symptoms. She finds it incomprehensible that a young woman would be involved in such a shocking crime."
Mr Houston's mother Nadine Delica also provided a statement, conveying the devastating ripple effect after her son's murder.
"The deceased was her eldest child and fulfilled a father role in the family as Ms Delica was a single parent for several years," Justice Corboy said.
"She is frightened and feels unsafe, she worries about her daughters.
"She refers to the pain that everyone in the deceased's family has felt and the loss they have all suffered. It is a loss that will never be overcome."
