'I know what it's like to lose a child': Harrowing moment a killer apologises to her victim's mum in court - after admitting she can't remember stabbing her son because she was high on meth
Jack Mulligan , 25, was stabbed multiple times on September 28, 2019 and died later that night in hospital
A Sydney murder victim's grieving mother has cried as her son's killer told her from across a courtroom: 'I know what the pain is like to lose a child ... I regret everything.'
Jack Mulligan, 25, was stabbed multiple times in a communal area of a Camperdown unit complex in Sydney's inner west on September 28, 2019, dying that night in hospital.
His killer, Sharee Lorraine Turnbull, told the NSW Supreme Court on Monday she had been using methamphetamine daily and couldn't remember the attack but felt 'guilt, a lot of shame pain' for what she'd done.
The 31-year-old earlier told the court about her traumatic childhood and early adult life replete with domestic violence, drug abuse and poor role models.
Turnbull also spoke of how losing her son moments after giving birth aged 18 had led to an escalation in her drug use.
'I know what the pain is like to lose a child,' she told Mr Mulligan's mother from the witness box, adding she would bring him back if she could.
'I regret everything.
'I can't live with the pain, but it's something I have to face because I'm responsible.'
Sharee Lorraine Turnbull is escorted to a prison van at the Supreme Court in Sydney on Monday, December 7
Turnbull, who pleaded guilty to murder in August, had used illicit substances on multiple occasions since entering custody in September 2019, the court heard.
She also used ice the day she was released on parole in May 2019 for stabbing a man in the chest in January 2018.
But Turnbull testified she'd been clean for three months and began a rehabilitation program in October after 'having a reality check with where I was, everything I've done and everything I've lost'.
Turnbull's older sister, Karla, told the court how they grew up with an alcoholic mother whose addiction escalated after Turnbull's maternal aunt was murdered by a domestic partner.
Both sisters recalled witnessing a relative hold a knife to their mother's throat and walking the streets at night out of fear of going home.
Karla Turnbull said her sister had been getting better in her mid-teens but the death of her son changed her forever.
'When she lost her son, I lost my sister,' the 33-year-old told the court.
Turnbull apologised to her victim's mother after admitting she doesn't remember the crime because she was high on meth
Justice Peter Hamill, who will sentence Turnbull on December 16, said she'd shown remorse and some signs of addressing her drug issues and highlighted some 'quite remarkable' trauma.
Crown prosecutor Guy Newton agreed but said any positive findings regarding rehabilitation must be guarded given change only occurred very recently - long after her arrest.
Public defender Janet Manuell SC, who said Turnbull was a woman who'd gone through life with a 'dearth of supervision, resources, support', called for a non-parole period below three-quarters of the full sentence.
She lamented that Turnbull would have been a great candidate for the Indigenous Walama Court in her earlier years 'had such a court existed' and said her client understood the depth of sorrow of losing a son.
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