Judge told of grandma's pain over murder

31 May 2012, 3:06 pm   -   Source: AAP

A Sydney grandmother has told a judge that the horror she saw on murdered girl's face was "etched on my memory forever".

A grieving grandmother who was attacked by a neighbour before he slit her granddaughter's throat has told a judge of her pain at losing the 12-year-old girl.

"The horrified look on Emma's face as she stood frozen to the spot, seeing what was being done to 'her nan', is etched in my memory forever," Vivienne Wighton, 77, wrote in her victim impact statement.

"The terrible, terrible events of the 18th of December 2009 are with me night and day."

Her statement was read in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday at the sentencing hearing of Renzo Da-Pra, 48.

Earlier this month he was acquitted of murder but found guilty of the manslaughter of his father, Gino Da-Pra, 77, on the grounds of substantial impairment.

He was found guilty of murdering Emma Wighton, whose throat was almost severed, and causing grievous bodily harm to her grandmother with intent to murder her.

Da-Pra's mental state was the issue for the jurors, who were told he had believed a bikie group wanted to kill family members but if he killed his father he could save his mother.

Da-Pra killed his father, before attacking the Wightons who lived next door to Da-Pra's parents at Wetherill Park.

Vivienne Wighton, who suffered facial fractures, a wounded throat and the cutting of her vocal cord, told the court she was a widow and retired teacher when Emma and her brother Jeremy came to live with her in 2000.

"The children became the focus of my life and I developed a loving and devoted relationship with both of them.

"Emma grew up to be a kind-hearted, wise little girl with a well-developed sense of fairness and social awareness."

Just two days before "this horrific crime", Emma attended her year six formal.

"It was the first time I had allowed her to wear a little make-up and she even persuaded me to let her have a very light spray tan as her party dress had little straps."

When Ms Wighton woke up in hospital, her first thought was: "Lord, why hath thou forsaken us."

"I could not fathom why I had survived and Emma had not."

Jeremy Wighton told the court that as his mother and father were "basically out of the picture as parents from an early age", Emma and his grandmother were "pretty much everything to me".

He had only moved out of home a month before the attack, which "by some miracle" his grandmother survived.

"I went to see her every day in hospital, having to cope with the sight of her head the size of a football, her horrific neck injuries, her being unable to even speak to us for a long time," he said.

Da-Pra will be sentenced on Monday.

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