Haley Riley can still hear her mum Debbie's agonising screams on the day her family was told of her beloved brother Blake Riley's death.
In a victim impact statement to the Supreme Court in Toowoomba on Wednesday, read out by Crown Prosecutor Nicole Friedewald, Haley Riley said that "sound of heartbreak and horror" was on repeat in her mind.
"[It reminds] me of what has happened and why everything as I know it in my world has changed," she said.
The court heard 28-year-old Blake Riley was at his friend Kelly-Ann May Sinclair's home in Toowoomba on January 5, 2021, when he became ill after taking heroin.
Ms Friedewald told the court instead of calling an ambulance, or driving him to a hospital, Sinclair put Mr Riley in the back seat of her car and drove to pick up her alleged drug supplier.
The court heard she then drove to her alleged drug suppliers' home, leaving Mr Riley in the back seat of the car, checking in on him about 17 minutes later before leaving for the night.
Ms Friedewald said when Sinclair, now 38, returned the next day, she realised Mr Riley was dead.
"Her criminality really begins at that point," Ms Friedewald told the court.
"Ultimately, she engaged in a conversation with another person where arrangements were made for her vehicle to be used to dispose of Mr Riley's body at Preston Peak Lookout."
Defence seeks suspended sentence
Mr Riley's body was found in bushland near the lookout a day later by a couple who were having a picnic.
Ms Friedewald told the court that over the coming days and weeks, Sinclair told lies about what had happened to Mr Riley — including to his family, who asked her if she knew where he was in the hours after his death.
"The ongoing lies, the self-absorption in those lies, not just to the police, but Mr Riley's family, trend against remorse," Ms Friedewald said.
The prosecutor told the court when discussing Mr Riley's death with another person she said: "We didn't take him to hospital because if we did, we would all go down for it. It was too far gone. We were in too deep".
Sinclair, who the court heard had an extensive criminal history including drug trafficking, was arrested on March 16, 2021 and charged with interfering with a corpse.
This week she pleaded guilty to that charge.
Defence barrister Stephen Kissick said Sinclair should be "given real credit" for her guilty plea.
He said she had reported consistently for parole and bail while serving other sentences, and told the court she should be handed a suspended sentence.
At least six months behind bars
Justice Peter Callaghan sentenced Sinclair to 18 months in prison, with a parole eligibility date of November 17 in six months' time.
He said there was something "selfish and callous" about Sinclair's mindset during the offending and the lies were "unconscionable".
"There is a nameless horror that attaches to this sort of behaviour," he said.
Mr Riley's mother Debbie sat in court throughout the hearing, wiping tears from her eyes at points.
"Blake had a problem with drugs and as a family we were working through it," she said, through a victim impact statement read by Ms Friedewald.
"My grief is unbearable. I brought this beautiful black-haired, blue-eyed baby into this world and I wasn't allowed to say goodbye.
"My husband wakes up screaming for Blake in the night, because he is finding it so hard to come to terms with. These night terrors happen so often it's become part of our normal."
