South Australian murder victim Victoria Stewart was a guide, bright light and loving safe place for her five children before her horrific death almost 12 months ago, the Supreme Court has heard.
Clifford Arthur Neumann today faced dozens of Ms Stewart’s family and friends, who labelled him a “monster”, ahead of his sentencing later this year.
Neumann had previously admitted to murdering the mother-of-five at a Morphett Vale home in November 2023.
Her death was one of several that prompted the state’s royal commission into family and domestic violence.
Reading his victim impact statement to the court, Douglas Jones described his 39-year-old sister as a bright light.
“My family’s collective heart had been broken,” he told the court.
“In an instant, the whole family changed forever.
“It is a heartbreak like no other … the light is gone; I walk in darkness, and you extinguished that light.”
He also described the heartbreak of her five children, who now must navigate life without their mother.
“They have lost their mother, they have lost their guide, they have lost their safe place, they have lost a soft pillow,” he said.
In a statement read by a prosecutor, Ms Stewart’s daughter Naomi said she could remember the last hug she shared with her mother and, if she knew it was their last, she would have held her longer.
“You haven’t only taken a life, you’ve ruined many,” she wrote in her statement.
“I still don’t understand how you, someone she trusted, could do such a cruel thing to her.
“You’re a monster and I wish you spent every second of the rest of your life in a pit of guilt and sorrow, knowing nobody in this world will look at you the same as they did before.”
Ms Stewart’s sister, Tania Laaks, told the court her “whole world was shattered” when she found out her best friend had been stolen from her.
“Victoria was an amazing mother of five beautiful children,” she said.
“They were her pride and joy and she loved them with all she was.
“You’ve taken her from them. You have left them vulnerable to face this world without the protection of their mother.
“You have taken a beautiful soul from this world … there is no sentence long enough for this kind of cruelty.”
Neumann will return to court in October for further sentencing submissions before being sentenced.