The family of James Cleghorn has broken down while recalling the moment their lives changed forever.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Bryce Cliff was found guilty of murdering the Kooringal High School student during the Wagga Supreme Court trial in February.
The teenager was stabbed about 30 times, including once in the heart at his Acacia Street home on June 7, 2016.
James’ father Glenn Cleghorn began to weep as he told the court on Wednesday that his son would never have a chance to grow up.
“I will never have the opportunity to see my son get married, have children or witness any of his achievements,” he said.
“This has all been taken away by his brutal and untimely death.
“I will never be able to hold my son again and tell him how much I love him.”
Mr Cleghorn said he still had nightmares thinking about the terror James would have endured in the moments before his murder.
“I’m not the same person and the grief never goes away,” he said.
“I tell myself at any moment he’ll be walking through the door.”
Mr Cleghorn looked Cliff in the eye as he told him there was “no punishment severe enough”.
“You haven’t shown one ounce of remorse,” Mr Cleghorn said.
“I hope justice is served for James because he (Cliff) deserves the punishment for taking the live of a life 16-year-old’s beautiful soul.”
Various family members asked Judge Stephen Campbell to consider the maximum possible sentence.
In an affidavit the court heard Bryce Cliff’s mother, who attended the entire trial and visited her son on a weekly basis since his arrest, was suffering from breast cancer.
In a second affidavit Cliff’s father wrote that he had “lost the Bryce he loved” to the drug ice.
Defense counsel Eric Wilson there were issues in regards to provocation and that Cliff didn’t arrive at the house with the intention of hurting anyone.
“It was something said or done by the deceased to provoke him, unknowingly obviously, that caused a reaction far out of proportion,” he said.
Mr Wilson told the court Cliff wouldn’t be in a good place to assist his mother if sentenced to a lengthy non-parole period.
Crown prosecutor Max Pincott told the court Cliff had time to calm down due to claims he had a cigarette prior to the murder.
The hearing is set to continue on Thursday, with a sentence expected to be handed down on Friday.
