Stephanie Scott's killer Vincent Stanford intends to appeal his life sentence as the slain teacher's family comes to grips with the death of her "wonderful, gentleman" father Robert Scott from a freak farm accident.
Stanford's legal aid lawyers submitted a notice of intention to appeal the life sentence without parole in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal last week.
The news comes less than 24 hours after Mr Scott, a retired teacher, was killed by a falling tree on Tuesday while clearing land on his Canowindra farm in the NSW central west.
The death also comes less than three weeks after Stanford was sentenced to life in prison for killing the Ms Scott, also a teacher, on Easter Sunday last year.
Stanford, a school cleaner, confessed to murdering her at Leeton High School, where they both worked, a week before she was to be married.
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Mr Scott, 59, is being remembered in social media tributes as a true gentleman who made an enormous impact on many lives.
"Not only was he a great teacher and man, he was more of a mate. A man who was stern but so gentle in the same way, treated everyone equally and always went out of his way to support others in what dreams they were chasing or just little things they wanted to achieve," Jordi Bailey Brown posted on Facebook.
"Bob - as a colleague you were a true gentleman who went out of his way to welcome & support a beginning teacher ... 16 years later, I've never forgotten your kindness," Sarah Matthews posted.
"Bob, you were the best teacher I could have had. You always knew the right thing to do or say to put a smile on any ones [sic] face. You were an amazing man with a heart of gold ... Scotty, you will never be forgotten, at least now you can fly high with Steph!" Nikki Peters of Canowindra posted.
On his daughter Kim Scott's page, Alyce Nelligan wrote: "Your Dad was a wonderful, kind and gentle man. They don't make them like that anymore," .
Mr Scott was by his wife Merrilyn's side after the verdict in Griffith last month as she made an emotional plea for privacy so the family could rebuild their lives.
"We need to be kind to ourselves and let the music and fun back in," she said.
"We need to be able to fade from public view, to mourn our beautiful girl and work our way through our grief."
Leeton Mayor Paul Maytom said the Scott family had been embraced by the community after Ms Scott's murder and the news of her father's death had devastated locals.
Mr Maytom told ABC radio the close-knit community rushed to support Stephanie's fiance Aaron Leeson-Woolley, who is be shattered by the news.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to raise money for the Scott family.
