Rachel Galleghan will never forget the day when her beloved 16-year-old son was bashed and left to die alone on the floor in nothing but his underwear.
In the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, Kayla Dawson – who instigated the assault – and Richard Sione, who started the bashing, were sentenced to decades in prison for the teen’s murder.
Galleghan said losing Jason has forever changed her life and caused her “pain, trauma and heartbreak”.
“I would give anything to hear Jason’s voice, his laugh … and just being his mum,” she said in her victim impact statement.
Dawson lured Jason – who she suspected of stealing her Apple AirPods – to her home, where he was attacked by Sione and subsequently by a group of teenagers who referred to the much older man as “uncle” or “dad”.
The 16-year-old died due to his injuries two days after the assault.
For her role in orchestrating the plan to attack Jason, Dawson was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a non-parole period of 13 years.
The court was told Dawson and Jason were friends, and the 16-year-old felt bad for Dawson after she fell pregnant and lost all her friends.
“Jason helped Kayla during a difficult time in her life,” Galleghan told the court.
“Kayla orchestrated the attack on Jason … she recorded the assault and laughed.”
In his decision, Justice Robert Allan Hume accounted for the 22-year-old’s intellectual disability and troubled upbringing.
“She lacked the capacity to reason as an ordinary person might … this lessens her moral culpability,” he said.
Sione’s defence attempted to have Justice Hume take into consideration his traumatic upbringing, mental health issues and history of substance abuse.
However, the judge determined that Sione’s moral culpability was undisputed.
“I am prepared to accept that there are some adverse events that occurred in Mr Sione’s life,” he said.
“To what degree, I am not sure.”
The 34-year-old was sentenced to 32 years with a non-parole period of 24 years.
Galleghan was visibly emotional and shaken when the sentences were read out, leaving the courtroom numerous times as the violent details of her son’s murder were recounted.
In her statement, Galleghan urged the judge to sentence Sione and Dawson to life imprisonment.
“Words cannot express how much I loath Kayla. Jason trusted her,” she said.
“[Sione] must be punished … his lack of remorse shows how severely he must be punished for his crime.”
Eleven people aged between 13 and 29 were charged after parts of the murder were filmed.
One teenager was previously sentenced to 15 years in prison over his involvement in the bashing.