Hailie Spence-Rose was only 19 when her mother was murdered in circumstances so harrowing an attending paramedic quit afterwards.
Instead of seeing out her teenage years carefree, the eldest daughter was forced to grow up overnight and plan her mother's funeral.
"[Tiffany Spence] was a real person with a heart, a history, and a family who loved her deeply. She was so much more than the way she died," Ms Spence-Rose said in a victim impact statement.
The 36-year-old mother of five was killed by Adam James Britt in a September 2022 family violence murder. She had made repeated attempts to seek help before her death.
In February 2026, three years after his arrest, and on the day he was set to face a jury trial, Britt pleaded guilty to murder.
When the 40-year-old called paramedics on September 9, 2022, from the Reid Unit he shared with Ms Spence, he repeatedly lied about how she had been injured.
He "strategically placed" a hammer in the severely beaten woman's left hand, after saying she had hit herself with the weapon.
Ms Spence was right-handed.
A range of fatal injuries, caused by Britt, were found to have been sustained over a number of days. Her cause of death was found to be blunt force trauma.
In a statement read to the ACT Supreme Court on Monday, June 15, the now-former paramedic said: "What I saw that night shocked me and has since haunted me."
"I no longer viewed my fellow man as the beautiful and interesting creature I once thought them to be. I grew to despise people and withdraw."
He said the only thing that brought him any peace was that in Ms Spence's final moments she was being treated by four paramedics "who truly cared, who treated her with the respect and dignity she deserved".
As she died, the paramedic was seated by her head, holding it gently. He spoke to her softly "truly hoping she could hear".
"Tiffany, we are here, and we care about you," he told the woman in her last moments.
In the statement, read to the court by ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Victoria Engel SC, the eldest daughter said her anger towards Britt was "overwhelming and difficult to put into words".
"It is also incredibly painful to know that my mum suffered greatly before she died," Ms Spence-Rose said in the statement.
"Knowing she was in pain and fear during her final moments is something I struggle to live with and it physically makes me sick."
Another attending paramedic wrote an impact statement to the court, saying the woman's injuries were "not like anything I had witnessed before" in her 18 years on the job.
"It is unfathomable ... how another human could inflict such violence," she said.
Ms Spence-Rose told the court the loss of her mother had been "devastating, not just for me but for my siblings as well".
"I am the oldest of five, and I am scared that I will be the only one who truly remembers her for who she was," she said.
"One of the deepest heartbreaks I carry is knowing my mum will never become a grandmother."
The case is set to return to court in September.
