The mother of Stephanie Scott has fought back tears as she read a speech she had prepared for her daughter’s wedding at a sentencing hearing for convicted killer Vincent Stanford.
Stephanie was due to be married the day after police discovered her body in bushland in April 2015.
Her body was found by police in the Cocoparra National Park about 70 kilometres from the town of Leeton.
Stanford, 25, was arrested four days later and was charged with her murder, aggravated sexual assault and inflicting actual bodily harm.
He pleaded guilty to Stephanie’s murder and aggravated sexual assault in July this year.
Stephanie’s mother, Merrilyn Scott, today delivered her victim impact statement during sentencing submissions for Stanford at the Supreme Court in Griffith.
“Our lives have been shattered – how could this happen to our beautiful girl?” she said.
“Stephanie was all that was good about humankind.
“She spent her wedding day in a morgue … there were no vows exchanged, no wedding dance.”
In a police interview played to the court, Stanford said he “went a little nuts”.
“I just felt like I should do it,” he said on the tape.
“I didn’t really feel anger, I just wanted to kill her.”
Stanford also told police he had tried to strangle a teacher in Holland when he was a teenager.
This story originally appeared on ABC News.
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